I live alone in Sydney metro, and as an engineer I'm power-wise, but my power bill was $275 last quarter... down from $303 the previous quarter.
I have one of those 'smart' meters, 3 tariffs ranging from about 7c/kwH off-peak to 35c/KwH peak. I run my dishwasher and washing machine, even the vacuum cleaner (2kW) off-peak when possible.
I got a power meter from Jaycar for $20. My washing machine uses about 0.2kWh, my dishwasher about 0.8kWh, per cycle.
Now... NSW are offering up to 66c/KwH bulk feed-in payment if I install solar power. Sounds like a good way to offset my power bill. However... The tax dept may decide that the feed-in tariff is taxable income... and tax me on it! That'd be a rip-off and an insult to say the least... But why am I not surprised?
Oh yes... Compulsory water tanks... Only a matter of time until city dwellers are hit with a new 'environmental levy' based on the surface area of our roof, 'cos we're denying water to the catchment. As mentioned already, our rural landowners already get hit based on their dams and catchment area. My local council already charges a 'drainage' (or is it stormwater) levy based on hard surface area... Taxed on the runoff we put into the system now, ultimately we'll be taxed on the runoff we gather in our freshwater tanks...
Just expect more and more environmental and 'green' levies as time goes on... it's just an excuse for a tax grab by incompetent, fiscally irresponsible government.
...end rant
