I'm an electrician in Dunedin and I got solar installed about two years ago. We have our own water and sewerage, so we were looking for power security. But the other reason we were also looking at cost savings and doing the homework we realised that the return on the solar investment was going to be greater than the investment of our money in the bank.

The solar system has performed very well. In fact, it's exceeded expectations. The Tesla Powerwall I think is the key to the success of the solar install because it's given us freedom to use the power when we we need it and to maximise the three hours of free power between 9pm and midnight. So, looking back, we’re probably only paying for 10% of the power we get from Contact.

I've really loved the Tesla app, I probably look at it a few times a day. It's helping just to see how well the system is doing. And this helped me make decisions to maximise the benefits as to when we put the dishwasher on, when we have the hot water cylinder on. So that has saved us a lot.

Our electricity bill used to be about the $200 a month. We're now down to either negative $20 or $30 or the worst bill we've had in June is only $60. So the savings have been substantial. 

My neighbour was thinking about [solar]. He invited us over and we could go over some figures and from our experience, he was able to see that it was worthwhile. If you're not sure, speak to somebody who's had an install. But yes, I strongly encourage it.

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