Alternative way to cut power bills

JOHN BISSET/Timaru Herald

ENERGY SMART: Jeni Woods' solar energy system is putting power into the national grid.

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Thanks to 15 solar panels in her garden Jeni Woods has a power bill to make others envious.

During winter the bill might creep up to $80 a month, but in summer it is as little as nil – not bad for a family of five in an old house not originally designed with energy efficiency in mind.

Mrs Woods and husband Tony own Smart Energy, a Timaru firm specialising in installing alternative energy sources.

It's not just a job but a way of life for the couple, who installed the garden panels on their Timaru property more than a year ago.

Instead of looking for new sources of energy, putting in solar panels was about finding ways to use existing technology to meet power needs, Mrs Woods said.

Unlike many of their residential clients who build their homes with entirely independent power systems, the Woods' house was already on the national grid.

Their solar panels feed directly into the grid, giving the Woods family a pleasure many people would like – they can watch their power meter go backwards.

"There was one time when a meter reader came. She said, `There's something wrong. Your power meter is reading less than last month'," Mrs Woods said.

While large connection fees are encouraging many rural people to look at their "off the grid" options when building a new house, installing a grid-connection system in an old property is still not a financially viable option for many people.

Those choosing to do so are motivated by personal reasons.

"The motivation for most people is because they feel it's the right thing to do," she said. "There are also people that just love the technology, people that love the environment."

The Woods' garden array cost about $15,000. The panels should last 40 years at least.

Designing a system for properties "off the grid" requires analysis of the client's power consumption, but putting in a system that feeds back into the national grid does not need the same planning.

Mrs Woods said the family was, nevertheless, energy-conscious. Over the year, the system supplied half to two-thirds of their power needs.

- © Fairfax NZ News