I now have a power credit of $450 for the last 7 months and no fuel bill for my last 2,000km of driving ... After 15 years, I will be $89,000 better off!!

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"It has been brilliant."

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With the goal of using solar as a means to further embrace a green lifestyle, Nick also used this install as an opportunity to teach his children about sustainability and the environment.

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“With power bills rising and solar panels becoming more efficient than ever, there’s no question this saves you a significant amount of money.”

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Overall, we are at about 55% self sufficiency and I have calculated a 9 to 10 year payback at 5%. Across the year, our daily energy cost is $6.13 per day – the price of a coffee.

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"The savings have been more than what we thought they would be, it’s one of the best things we have ever done."

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"The addiction is the app."

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With a roof full of fresh panels and a garage housing the latest battery tech from Tesla, Ian shares his experience with the Christchurch Solar team, and how he is reaping the benefits of clean sustainable energy.

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Our solar panel and residential battery system has now been up and running for seven years and nine months, and we haven’t had to pay a power bill since September 2017, thanks to solar feed-in credits from our carbon-positive certified electricity retailer Ecotricity and generous distribution charge discounts from our local lines company Northpower ... In October 2017 we got our electric car we'd been saving for separately, as it had always been the plan to get one, once they became affordable and provided us with enough battery capacity and range for our travels. We've driven more than 41,000 km since then, and we’ve paid a bit more than $114 in total for "fuel electricity” at ChargeNet rapid charger stations when on longer road trips, while the rest of the time we've been charging at home for free. That's less than 28 cents per 100 km.

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We built a new rural home in 2022 and fitted 10kW of solar and 28kWh of battery storage. We average 11mwh consumption and 14mwh production annually ... There are zero fossil fuels required to run our home.

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When the sun is shining, and even on dull days, we use the solar in the house and then charge the cars as it comes off the roof. What we don’t use charges the battery in the garage. Once that is full, it heats our hot water, and after that we get paid for selling it back to our energy retailer. All up, the sun gives us around 8,320 units of electricity per year. We sold around 2,045 kWh of that back to our retailer and made about $400.

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When we moved into our house 18 years ago we were burning fossil fuels for water heating, space heating, transport and cooking. Over the years we've made economic, practical and heath decisions to buy electric when replacing our machines.

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I fully electrified my house and have saved $23,000 in two years, about a 10% return.

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