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How to make your solar work better for you

There's many things you can do to get the most out of your solar energy.

There's many things you can do to get the most out of your solar energy. Photo: Getty

We noticed that there are plenty of people with solar out there who aren’t getting the best out of their systems, so we’ve put together some handy hints for getting the most out of your solar.

Here are some things to keep in mind:


If you’re on a current feed-in tariff, it’s better to use your solar generation rather than export it, because buying power from the grid is more expensive than what you get in return for your solar export.

‘Set and Forget’ deals are sold by many energy retailers as a solution to massive electricity bills. However, nothing can be further from the truth.

Exporting all of your solar generation made sense when the feed-in tariff was high but at the present time self-consumption is often your best bet.


Data will help you create an electricity usage plan for your home, so you can make sure you’re getting the most out of your solar PV system.

Scribble in your favourite notebook, have a planning doc on your laptop or do whatever works best to make sure you’re well acquainted with:

• Your feed-in tariff;
• Your average daily usage;
• What you export to the grid on average;
• What your solar PV system produces on a daily, weekly and monthly basis; and
• How much energy your favourite appliances use.

Knowing the simple things mentioned above will help you craft a customised and well-informed electricity usage plan for your home. Getting to know your data requires a tiny bit of effort, but once it is done it’s sure to benefit you.

You should aim to use as much of your electricity during the day as possible. Customers often expect to reap the benefits of solar by just investing money in a solar PV system and continuing to use most of their electricity outside peak solar generation periods.

This leads to wastage as customers end up exporting their generation during peak solar generation times and would instead be better off utilising this output to power their homes.

To truly maximise the investment in your solar PV system, one thing is a must: change your habits to ensure that you’re using most of your electricity during the day.

Understandably, this is not a viable option for all appliances. However, doing small things like putting a timer on your dishwasher or your pool pump to get them to switch on during a sunny day is a great way to maximise your solar PV system and save money.

Find out when your solar PV system starts producing electricity in the morning and when it stops producing at night, so you know exactly what time you should use the majority of your appliances.

A good way to find out this information is to purchase a portable device that displays your solar inverter or meter data. These kinds of devices also allow you to track the efficiency of your solar PV system and let you know if your system is not performing well, so you can get any issues fixed.

If you’re a Powershop customer, you can also track the impact of your exported solar by going to Heatmaps in your online account. You can find out more about it here.

We love our solar customers! That’s why they have access to the same great rates and discounts available to all of our customers, with no hidden fees or surprises.


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NSW / QLD

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Not ready to switch power companies today? No worries. Some things are better done over the phone.

You can simply leave your details here and Powershop give you a call back at a time that suits. It will happily provide a bill comparison to help you understand whether switching to Powershop means savings.

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