I have my first bills covering two months now using Wholesale electricity pricing from Amber Electric. This is what I've learned. This is not sponsored by Amber.
Hi Steve. I think your final remark about needing a home battery for Amber to pay off is on the money. Without a battery all your feed in is happening during the day time when prices are low. If you could store it and feed it back to the grid during the evening, when prices are high, I reckon you’d get a much better result. Thanks for this video. I’m considering joining Amber and it’s not a straight forward decision.
Hi Steve! I'm a young fella but have really enjoyed your vids, info and production value in helping me to buy my first EV - which was, yep, a 2024 Model Y. so happy. i was taking the fam for a road trip today and guess who I saw driving by me as we walked back to our brand new machine, STEVES Blue MY and you in it at Thirroul! Unfortunately you were speeding away, but wanted to say thanks for your great content and shame I couldn't thank you in person. Keep it up, mate. See you around in a blacked out Midnight Silver Metallic sometime :D
This leaves me with a lot of questions. And ideas. 🤣 How many kilowatts can you deliver per hour to the grid? Is there a way to automate the system to buy and sell electricity, turning on and off the battery bank so it will only store and release at specific price points to take full advantage of the market? Just thinking living mostly off grid but with a connection to the grid, only to sell electricity back to it with a growing battery bank and automated price gauging on electricity. I wonder if that would ever be profitable?
Hi I think many have felt the same way. There is definitely an arbitrage opportunity here. The Govt reference price ensures you never pay over 38 cents. I did find though that Amber took months to rebate overcharges so you carry the full cost for quite some time. Best of luck!
People often dismiss an east west pitched roof as a viable place for solar but I think it's probably the more superior install especially in cases like wholesale electricity. You are feeding in more power than most solar systems in mornings and afternoons which should give you a better rate during those times.
Yes, I thik you are right. The morning and afternoon boost you get at $0.20>$0.40 export covers the cost of the rest of the day when you are likely to be charged for your export.
I had thought about Amber but I couldn’t determine whether I would be better off with them. The lack of a tool that could download my production and consumption figures from my meter and project whether it would be worthwhile to make the change was the clincher for me. Cheers and thanks for sharing your experiences.
Yep, you need to be able to track the usage and control the situation. So, if you don't have these tools, you are probably best off staying with your standard retailer. As Steve said, Amber ended up being more expensive when he wasnt able to control what was going on while he was overseas. So if you aren't in control you wont see a benefit - it will probably cost you. What I really need is a way to tell my battery to STOP charging when the solar price export price is high. I pretty much always end up missing out on those good prices because the battery charges at the wrong time. Amber is working on this though and perhaps they can manage to do it in the next few cycles. I can create a device that monitors the prices and stops the battery charging myself - depends if I can get at the API to control it.
Hi Steve just wondering if you are still using Amber? I was considering it but the more look into it I’m more undecided. I have Enphase 13.2kW solar, 2x PW2, 3 phase Zappie charger and BMW i4. What worries is the negative FIT. I would change to OVO but not available to me Bomaderry.
Hi Steve, I got frightened off Amber when my May bill was $300+! They tell me I’ll get a credit back to the Govt reference price. I’ve changed to AGL’s EV plan. I think you need a home battery to make Amber work. My Tesla is not always ready to take a charge when Amber is ready. Cheers
@@stevestesla9120 Thanks for that info. We are pretty limited down here with providers, changed Red Energy EV saver with 7c fit and 2 hours free electricity on Saturday and Sunday. Not the best time to charge because most times l am out driving. I’m up in the Wollongong area a bit so if see you around I will say hi, you car would stand out with your number plate. Cheers
I think you need a house battery and some automation to get the most out of Amber. I am using Amber with a Tesla and a house battery too. I use automation (Home Assistant) to charge the car and battery when power is cheap and then consume the house battery when power is expensive. It works very well and my average buy rate is about 14c per kwh. I drive over 30000km per year, so my savings are pretty good. The automation part is a bit technical, but if you enjoy that stuff then is very do-able.
What sort of home battery are you using? I was originally thinking power wall but I am now noticing a few hybrid inverters are compatible with HA so thinking I'll do more DIY. Still looking for a more extensive list of what's compatible. The hard part I guess is finding one with the controls I need. I assume it's for the most part setting options through home assistant based on price targets. So I guess hold SOC so you use the grid and hold onto whatever state you have. Letting extra solar feed into the grid. Take in as much power from the grid to the battery and output as much as possible so excess goes to the grid. Hard part I think is planning for events but in still new ish to HA
What happened to the $20 a month fee is all you worry about? Feels a bit misleading to see SO many fees. I could almost understand the line rental but a lot of others are stuff that should be included with the $20 a month advertisements.
Scientific enough. Just about to take the plunge with solar/battery, but with the aim of maximising self consuption. Too chicken to enter the world of the half hourly stockmarket, or the punters lounge, or the casino, ie Amber. Great video!
I have looked into Amber and the huge variations with many factors I have decided that they use confusion to maximise their profits. It may work for some people but not for others.
