Let's compare electricity rates

[Ozstache]

We pay 34.2c/kwh and $1.37 a day connection fee for living just over the border from Canberra in NSW. (Not so) amusingly, Canberra gets supplied its electricity off the same NSW power grid node, yet pays 22c/kwh. This is apparently because Canberra is a metropolitan area, not regional like where I am, despite being closer to Civic than half of Canberra.  I sometimes think I should run an extension cord over the whole 2kms to the border to get cheaper power!

[gooki]

I'd be seriously considering solar at those prices.

[agent_clone]

We pay 34.2c/kwh and $1.37 a day connection fee for living just over the border from Canberra in NSW. (Not so) amusingly, Canberra gets supplied its electricity off the same NSW power grid node, yet pays 22c/kwh. This is apparently because Canberra is a metropolitan area, not regional like where I am, despite being closer to Civic than half of Canberra.  I sometimes think I should run an extension cord over the whole 2kms to the border to get cheaper power!

I think Canberra has the cheapest electricity in Australia, and I would be living in a similar area to you Ozstache.  When I was living at my parents place in Canberra for a bit my dad was complaining about the carbon tax putting up his electricity bill, I pointed out his price per kWh was still cheaper than what I had been paying in South Australia.  If I end up staying around here I'll probably buy in Canberra as I dislike driving for my commute each day (for various reasons moving is not possible at the moment).  Also instead of thinking of the cost of electricity think of the fact that your car registration is cheaper, if you own your rates are cheaper, etc,etc.

gooki, if I ever buy my own place that is separate title (i.e. a place without body corporate (aka HOA)), I will be seriously considering it after I recover a bit financially from the hit of the deposit and stamp duty.  Maybe by then they will have better batteries for storing solar!

[Ozstache]

I'd be seriously considering solar at those prices.

I have, but the north side of my roof is shaded by a massive neighbour's tree (ie. restricted sun coverage) and the NSW feed in tariff is now a pathetic 8 c/kwh (ie. 1/4 of what they slug me). As such, I can't get the numbers to give me an ROI within 15 years so it's thumbs down at this stage.

[Vilgan]

We are pretty lazy about energy conservation, but part of it is electric is pretty cheap here. Here was our bill for the last period (62 days):

Base service charge: $9.96
992 KwH below threshold (16 KwH/day) * $0.0506 per KwH => $50.20
333 KwH above threshold * $0.1149 per KwH => $38.26
Total for 62 days: $98.42
Total per day: $1.58
Average cost per KwH: $0.066

We used to be below threshold always, but have added a large standalone freezer and an air conditioning system that runs infrequently.