One of the most common questions we hear from homeowners is:

"How do I get rid of my power bill with Solar?"

Closely followed by:

"How can I stop paying for power?"

And perhaps the most popular question of all:

"If i get a battery, Will a it help me eliminate my electricity bill?"

While there is no one-size-fits-all answer, many of our customers are discovering that with the right solar and battery setup, they can dramatically reduce their electricity costs and in some cases generate enough credits to offset their daily supply charges.

The secret isn't just installing a battery - It's knowing how to use it strategically.

Your Solar Battery Could Be Earning You More

Traditionally, homeowners install a solar battery to store excess solar energy generated during the day so it can be used at night.

But an increasing number of our customers are taking advantage of a different strategy.

Rather than simply storing energy for later use, they're programming their battery to discharge during premium feed-in tariff periods where exported energy can earn up to 28 cents per kWh.

This means the energy sitting in your battery could potentially be generating bill credits at the most valuable time of the day If you have enough spare to sell.

Using Peak Feed-In Tariffs to Your Advantage

Many electricity retailers now offer higher feed-in tariffs during specific periods when the grid needs additional energy. This is often between the peak hours where the price of power normally jumps. When the sun sets, even those with solar installed on their home start to pull power from the grid as they enter into early evening. It is around this time that the time of use price hikes happen and you could be paying $0.50 per kw!

However, If you have a battery installed and if it has sufficient stored energy, it can be programmed to automatically export power back to the grid during these peak tariff windows.

This allows homeowners to:

Maximise the value of stored solar energy
Generate higher electricity bill credits
Offset daily supply charges
Improve the return on their solar battery investment
Reduce reliance on traditional electricity retailers

For households with strong solar production and adequate battery storage, this can become a powerful tool for reducing overall electricity costs.

Can You Really Have No Power Bill?

The reality is that every home is different.

Your ability to achieve a zero electricity bill depends on several factors, including:

Your solar system size
Battery capacity
Household energy consumption
Seasonal solar production
Your electricity retailer's tariff structure

However, many homeowners are surprised to learn that their battery can do more than just power their home after dark.

When combined with smart energy management, solar battery storage can help significantly reduce electricity bills and, in some situations, generate enough credits to offset fixed daily charges. We know this as a number of our customers are doing just this.

While we would never guarantee a zero power bill, we've seen customers substantially reduce their energy costs by making smarter use of their battery system and taking advantage of premium feed-in tariff periods. I myself am on for my third credit in as many months instead of receiving a bill.

How to Pay Less for Power

If you're searching for ways to reduce or eliminate your electricity bill, battery programming is becoming one of the most overlooked opportunities available to solar homeowners. We have created a step by step guide to help you programme your Sungrow Solar and Battery System to help make you money, with out constantly having to micro manage it.

Modern battery systems can often be configured to:

Store excess solar energy during the day
Reserve energy for household evening use
Export power during premium feed-in tariff windows
Optimise energy usage automatically
Increase overall solar savings

Rather than allowing energy to sit unused, homeowners can potentially turn their stored electricity into valuable bill credits.

Making Your Battery Work Smarter

A battery should be more than just backup storage.

With the right settings, it can become an active part of your energy strategy.

As electricity prices continue to rise, homeowners are looking for smarter ways to reduce power bills, minimise grid dependence, and maximise the value of their solar investment.

For many of our customers, strategically discharging their battery during peak feed-in tariff periods has become another way to do exactly that.

If you've been wondering:

How do I get rid of my power bill?
How can I stop paying for electricity?
Will a solar battery eliminate my power bill?
How do feed-in tariffs work with battery storage?

It may be time to look beyond simply storing power and start making your battery work harder for you.

Thinking about optimising your battery settings?

It starts with sizing the system right. This is where i come in. We are able to review your power bills in order to work out how big a battery will be necessary to achieve these results. The good news, it doesn’t always have to be the biggest one out there.

Homeowners that enter into a plan that allows them to sell back at $0.28 a kW of the have a higher than normal daily connection fee. This for me and many others sits at $1.60 per day. In order to eliminate this charge, i need to sell back 6 kWs per day to achieve + $1.68.

If i add this on to my general night usage used in my house between sun down and sun up, then i wont pull any power to be charged and finish the night + $0.08 up. Im a realist, i realise this excess wont be buying me a first class ticket to the Maldives any time soon, however it does mean that my money stays in my pocket each month and not the energy providers.

We have devised a step by step guide to help Sungrow Battery owners, automate this selling back process. You are able to decide how much and for how long you sell back to the grid. The handy thing about Sungrow is this can then be saved as a set and forget option. I would recommend keeping an eye on the weather forecast though as it will sell back as commanded and if your battery wasn’t able to charge to full capacity during the day it may take all your reserves.

This isn’t an exact science and nor does it work with an AI model predicting the forecast so some attention is needed. Should you wish to control this daily depending on your SOC, this too is possible. Just reach out to one of the team and we will show you how.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you would like us to assist with sizing up your battery HERE.

For your guide to complete this please see below:

Sungrow Battery Scheduled Discharge Guide