Casey Hart, Tony Colangelo, Eve and Luca, with dogs Snowy, Peggy, Bundy, & Kevin the cat.
Ashfield residents Casey Hart and Tony Colangelo installed solar last year. They’d gone down the path of inquiring about solar three times before, each time without success. None of the installers who’d quoted came near the house, and the prices were hugely variable. They weren’t confident they could make the right decision on systems and installers.
So they came to one of Inner West Community Energy’s Solar Information Nights and it was then that they felt they knew enough to get the job done with our support.Their solar was installed mid-last year. Then there was a setback. After a few months, Casey contacted us to say she was disappointed the solar wasn’t making a bigger dint in her bills. The problem was, as we explained, that they used so much power.
Casey and her family knew what the problem was: electric underfloor heating. They had a pool too, but the pump wasn’t running excessively.
They took action. They turned off the underfloor heating. They have a well-insulated, solid house, and they found they just didn’t need it, even in winter.
“The main thing is that we’ve changed the underfloor heating,” Casey told us. “We did have the luxury of it coming on – even when we weren’t home it would come on. And because we saw how the energy was being used through Solar Analytics, and we identified what was using all the energy, we thought we don’t really need it to be on all the time.
“We’re quite comfortable without it. So we changed the way we use energy because of that. We still use it as a luxury thing if we’re all home on a rainy day. We’ll put it on and enjoy it. It’s just not on every day.”
Casey’s power bills used to be shockers, between $1200 and $1400 a quarter. With their 6.2 kilowatt, 20-panel solar PV on the roof, and their new understanding of how to cut energy waste, the bills have dropped dramatically. Last December the bill was $217, in March the bill was $167 and the June bill was $552.
“Because of Solar Analytics and the way we saw how we were using electricity, and because we made some changes, I think our payback time will be much sooner than was forecast,” Casey says.
Tony says he has no regrets about installing solar through Inner West Community Energy. “Absolutely no regrets at all,” he says.
Casey, who’s a finance broker, says even though we’re in a pandemic, if you can afford solar, do it now. “You will start to see savings. And you will feel good. Every month you wait, you’re just going to be paying more money because your bills are going to be high. “As soon as it goes on, you start savings and it pays for itself. It’s a great investment. Particularly if you’ve got kids. It’s a no brainer.”