Kartik’s solar battery is making cents

When Kartik first arrived in Australia, he immediately fell in love with the beautiful landscape, welcoming people and sunshine. He found his new home quite different from his native India. Trading the hustle and bustle for the serene leafy green suburbs of Adelaide, Kartik and his wife quickly made a home, and raised two daughters in their new close-knit community in the north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide. 

One of the first things on Kartik’s to-do list was set himself up with reliable utility providers.  From his research, he decided to go with AGL. “It was the fact that they were a fairly decent sized company, and they were fairly robust in their service as well,” he says. 

Kartik’s first step in his sustainability journey was installing solar panels on the roof of his family’s home. So when he heard about solar batteries, installing one was a no-brainer. 

“It’s not only helped us in managing our energy usage better and driving down cost of electricity bills, but it also helps us to be more conscious of our contribution to the community,” he says. 

Don't sweat the small stuff

Kartik used to sweat it out over his power usage each month. This meant constantly worrying about when to use his AC – and keeping an eye on what his daughters were up to.

“During school holidays, I would always call home in the afternoon and check if my kids had turned on the air conditioning,” he says.

But since having a solar battery installed, Kartik doesn’t have to worry about how long his family wants to run the AC. 

“I used to be extremely vigilant about costs,” he says. “But now I’m more relaxed, and we can use more power in the evenings because we’re consuming our own, instead of taking it from the electricity grid.” 

Kartik is still always looking for ways to help reduce his carbon footprint and energy usage around the home. He uses the AGL app to monitor his family’s electricity consumption closely.

Helping to power his home and the community 

Solar batteries can store power captured by solar panels and also be charged from the grid. This provides a well of energy to pull from when the panels aren’t generating enough electricity to power your home, such as at night or when there is an increased need for power. 

Kartik says his Tesla Powerwall solar battery takes five to six hours to charge on a summer’s day and provides plenty of power, with some leftover, for use at night.

“Our solar panels generate power that’s stored in the solar battery, so we can use it when we need to,” he says. 

“Since we’re mostly consuming our own power instead of paying to use power from the grid, the solar battery started paying for itself as soon as we started using it.”  

As part of AGL’s solar battery offer, Kartik’s household became a part of the AGL VPP network (in exchange for a discounted solar battery cost). The VPP enables homes like Kartik’s to share stored solar power back to the grid for use by other homes and businesses. That means less reliance on fossil-fueled power sources. 

“There might be times where I’m contributing, and there might be times where I’m on the receiving end of it,” he says.

“It’s extremely future focused, and a good way to give back to the community. You can help reduce fossil fuel consumption and help improve the overall carbon footprint of the state.”

We’ll manage your solar battery remotely based on the best way we think we can help take pressure off the grid. You’ll always have enough energy for your home, either from your solar panels, your battery or the grid, and you’ll be helping to support the energy needs of your community when you can. (Kartik loves spreading the solar love with those connected to the electricity grid).

Lower bills, more peace of mind

One of the best parts of having a solar battery is using the power from your solar battery at night and saving more on your energy bills. From the very start, Kartik’s been able to see the financial benefits of being connected to the VPP.  

“I’ve seen savings in my energy bill, and that’s a good thing.

“For four to five months a year, I don’t even feel like I have an energy bill,” he says. “I just have a credit in my account that rolls over, which means I don’t have to pay any money.” 

In addition to not having to buy much power from the grid, Kartik can even offset his energy credit against his AGL gas account. 

Getting up and running with ease

Solar panels can help generate energy from the sun; however, only when the sun is shining. That’s where the solar battery can help.  Switching to a more sustainable way of powering your home may be easier than you think. Kartik says getting the solar battery installed was easy.

“It was very simple,” he says. “We were interested in seeing if we could harness our solar power, so we got in touch with AGL. They managed the whole process.”

As a long-time customer, Kartik was familiar with our reliable customer service, and this was no different. We helped him find his home's solar battery size and sorted out delivery and installation. 

“All we had to do on the day of installation was make sure there was no car parked in the garage. AGL did everything else.”

The solar battery was installed into its new home in the garage. It’s hooked up to a smart meter and connected to the solar panels on the roof.  

With the help of the AGL app, Kartik’s been able to calculate how long it will take for his solar battery to pay for itself. This could change over time as prices and solar feed-in tariffs change. The app also shows him how much energy his home is using, how much is stored in his solar battery, and how much has been shared back to the grid.

“I use the AGL app very actively to track my energy cost. And I’m tracking that partly to figure out what’s my return on the investment for the solar panels and the solar battery.”

With the help of a solar battery, Kartik and his family can use energy generated by their solar panels regardless of the time of day or temperature – while potentially saving money.

“When you can rely on power you generate for yourself, you have more control over how your household runs,” he says. “You can run devices in your house without having to worry as much about the power bill because we’re consuming what we generate.”