The Solar Power Scam

This applies to Australia, but no doubt is happening in other countries too.

Solar systems are marketed as a way to have free electricity. But free to whom? The customer, or the power companies?

Many people have been duped into spending thousands on solar systems for their homes. The power companies agreed to pay 47c per kW/h, which made it look like an attractive investment. Now they are reducing the amount they will pay for the power you reduce to 16c per kW/h.

In order to get "paid" for the power you supply to the grid, you need to have an import/export meter installed, which looks like this:



This replaces the old electricity meter like this:



This is what enables the power companies to get their "free electricity" (or almost free). See, the import export meter seperately monitors how much power you use from the grid, and how much you supply to the grid. This gives them the opportunity to charge a different amount for what you use and what you supply. So, in typical corporate fashion, they are going to start charging more and more for what you use, and less and less for what you supply. Eventually, they will pay you nothing for what you supply them, while selling it to your next door neighbour for big dollars.

The way to avoid this scam is to not install the import/export meter. Keep the old one instead. You won't get "paid" for electricity you supply to the grid, but instead you will save whatever rate the power companies are charging you. See, the spinning disc you see in them will actually start spinning the opposite way when you start supplying power to the grid. It's like winding back the odometer on a car, except perfectly legal. This denies the power companies the opportunity to set different prices for what you and they supply, meaning if they raise their prices, the amount you save increases too.

So if you are thinking of going solar, remember that your bills will be higher if you allow them to "pay" you for what you supply.

If you install enough solar panels, you can unplug from the grid entirely.

Originally posted by babybunnies
If you install enough solar panels, you can unplug from the grid entirely.

And batteries.

That's the best way to go. Deep cycle batteries.

Worst case scenario if the sun isn't out for a few days, you can use jumper leads to charge them from your car.

In related news....

Artificial Photosynthesis Breakthrough: Fast Molecular Catalyzer
www.sciencedaily.com...

"I'm convinced that it will be possible in ten years to produce technology based on this type of research that is sufficiently cheap to compete with carbon-based fuels. This explains why Barack Obama is investing billions of dollars in this type of research," says Licheng Sun.
He has conducted research in this field for nearly twenty years, more than half of that time at KTH, and adds that he and many other researchers see efficient catalyzers for oxidation of water as key to solving the solar energy problem.
"When it comes to renewable energy sources, using the sun is one of the best ways to go," says Sun. The research findings are of such importance that they have recently attracted the attention of the scientific journal Nature Chemistry.

So yeah... If I was in the position to invest in solar energy for my home, I would seriously consider waiting a couple years...

Oil will still be around, energy prices will still be expensive, and governments will continue to wage war over these energies... but SOME day, some day soon... it will be wise, efficient, and meaningful to convert.

@NuclearPaul... random question, is your avatar a still image from Autotune the News?


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Originally posted by babybunnies
If you install enough solar panels, you can unplug from the grid entirely.

Ah-HA! But some people believe that all this recent solar activity means the sun is about to go dark. What are you gonna do with all those solar panels then? You'll be right back to begging the electrical utility to take your money....

reply to post by NuclearPaul


How about some sources for this?

Originally posted by Ex_CT2

Originally posted by babybunnies
If you install enough solar panels, you can unplug from the grid entirely.

Ah-HA! But some people believe that all this recent solar activity means the sun is about to go dark. What are you gonna do with all those solar panels then? You'll be right back to begging the electrical utility to take your money....

Link or video... or it didn't happen...

Please show me these people who are making claims that the sun is about to go dark.

Do you have any idea what that would mean? For real.

The least of our worries would be what to invest in, in regards to which forms of energy we choose to feed off of.
Oh wait, I forgot this is a conspiracy website.

I dare you, deny my ignorance lol.

reply to post by NuclearPaul


The scam on our end appears to be the governments financial support to these companies,only to watch them fold in the end anyway.
How does this benefit anyone.You want to do something worthwhile try making the components affordable to everyone.

Originally posted by MESSAGEFROMTHESTARS

Originally posted by Ex_CT2

Originally posted by babybunnies
If you install enough solar panels, you can unplug from the grid entirely.

Ah-HA! But some people believe that all this recent solar activity means the sun is about to go dark. What are you gonna do with all those solar panels then? You'll be right back to begging the electrical utility to take your money....

Link or video... or it didn't happen...

Please show me these people who are making claims that the sun is about to go dark.

Do you have any idea what that would mean? For real.

The least of our worries would be what to invest in, in regards to which forms of energy we choose to feed off of.
Oh wait, I forgot this is a conspiracy website.

I dare you, deny my ignorance lol.

Seriously, guy. It was a drive-by. Do I have to put a after something before people realize it's meant to be a funny?

I do not want the power company even considering me as a customer or client.

It is my goal before my time on this planet is up, is to be totally energy independant from the scammers

Originally posted by Ex_CT2

Originally posted by babybunnies
If you install enough solar panels, you can unplug from the grid entirely.

Ah-HA! But some people believe that all this recent solar activity means the sun is about to go dark. What are you gonna do with all those solar panels then? You'll be right back to begging the electrical utility to take your money....

If the sun was to go dark then keeping the lights on would be the last of your worries. No sun light and the whole planet would start to ice over in very short order.

I 100% agree with the OP, I've just installed 6k worth of solar panels on my place in Melbourne Australia and have been conned by the power companies/Oligopoly's.

My power company quoted me 35cents feed in, 22cents onpeak, 12 cents offpeak which I jumped and signed the contract.
Once installed they ran me around the legal maze and changed it to 35 cents feed in, 33 peak, 25 shoulder, 12cents offpeak...This effectively means I would be loosing money despite feeding in 14kw/d as I was already paying 22 cents peak, 12 cents offpeak.

At the moment I am doing as the OP has suggested and refusing entry to replace the dial meters with the "Smart meters".
The best part is YOU have to pay for the solar meters and the ongoing metering costs!

The power companies were sold off to private companies from the goverment (like our water and most of our infrastructure) and no maintenance is spent on it, its only when it needs maintaining (ie fatal bush fire started) when it fails do tax payers need to pay again despite paying our power rates.

Another quick thing, many large companies get reduced power rates from these companies and offset it against the residential sector which only use ~30% of the nations power.

Star and Flag to the OP, good work

The economic landscape across the energy sector is quite diverse in Australia with many energy companies all investing in different parts of the system. With competition in the market place it does promote and work towards more efficient economic management of the power system. With the recent carbon tax, the government is sending the message to the oil, coal and gas sectors to get on their bike. The importance of these industries are acknowledged, yet more resources are going to alternate energy systems to reduce the demand, risk, damage and conflict associated to these energy sources.

Solar is one of these technologies getting invested in and is generally calculated at taking about 10 years to pay off with another 10 years of operation, but it does vary. State and local governments also have different policies and funds going and really depends where your are if other financial assistance is available for getting established with solar. Outback communities have the Bushlight program which is quite effective at supplying the needs or remote communities with solar and battery banks. The urbanised areas are a bit different with more networking and competition going on, do your homework and shop around and you might find something affordable for your needs.

As for the digital meters, there looks to many options and a growing diversity in the market place. Keep your heads up as it looks like it is up to the consumer to help sort through all the options.

reply to post by kwakakev


I do agree solar is a great and beneficial way of generating power and payback is normally 4-5 years on most systems with a useful life of over 25 years.
Its commonly accepted that the government is in bed with the coal companies who supply the coal to the electricity companies.

Investment in infrastructure simply isn't happening and private organisations such as Melbournes public transport system and electrical infrastructure hasn't been upgraded upon.
Every time it does they cry and demand a governed pay package despite the companies making record profits.
Their is no accountability or regulation.

Digital meters
Good in theory but no advantage to the consumer, prices for everyone I know have skyrocket since they were installed and the consumer pays more monitoring fees.
Why replace something that already works?

Prices for the power and fixed in cement, the supplier in my case "Jemina" set the rate the power sells at and feed in rates and resellers such as AGL, Origin, Dodo Energy add their commission on.
The game is rigged and the prices have been fixed!

I'm not trying to argue but this is the view for a consumer point of view who is set to pay record prices while the ones who own it walk away rich with politicians who appear to who know idea what their on about.

Curious, i saw several white semi flatbed trucks hauling these large solar heaters that you put outside. Now i know that you can use steam to power anything. I wonder if these solar heaters you put outside can produce steam to power and heat your home. OH, And by the way, i wonder where they are all going with these massive heaters. hmmm interesting.

Originally posted by Ex_CT2
Seriously, guy. It was a drive-by. Do I have to put a

after something before people realize it's meant to be a funny?

Yes. Yes, you do, on ATS. A lot of these guys just can't get sarcasm or humor, no matter how obvious. Thus the ongoing, eternal thing about the Langley April Fool joke from years gone by. It still hasn't died, no matter how often you point out to people how to find out for themselves.

There's a reason for that, and the folk that don't get the obvious jokes tell you something personal about themselves, but it's not tactful to post it here. PM me for it if you don't figure it out for yourself and want to know.

reply to post by cloaked4u


If you mean something such as this then this is solar hot water, I haven't heard of to many people using steam in a residential setting. Solar or gas hot water is certainly a good option to cut power bills however it doesn't directly relate to PV solar which is used to generate power.

reply to post by phantom150



No, they were half the size of the semi truck on a flatbed. No, it was not that one.

You can make a simple one, with low cost, but this one only makes the water hot and not steam thru solar. here www.youtu.be...