# Electricity Companies And The Future In Oz



## Wally (Jan 28, 2018)

After a couple of warm days in Victoria, not out of the norm for this time of year, it's interesting to hear what some are thinking that work for those companies that provide our energy.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/h...-about-to-get-very-muggy-20180127-h0pbxn.html

I'm going to extrapolate that Mr Armstrong lives in a newly constructed home in a new suburb and therefore we should only consider his comments 'naive". 

"There are a lot fuses blowing in the hot weather and a significant power pull with people having put in air-conditioners they didn't tell us about," Mr Armstrong said.

Apparently it's now up to us to provide the utility companies with up to date info on what appliances we have installed in our homes.

I'm all for changing the way we generate power. If we need to shut down coal fired power stations to play our part in slowing climate change, shouldn't we make sure we've covered our asses with other means before doing so.

Discuss....


----------



## Flaviemys purvisi (Jan 28, 2018)

What?? You have to tell your electricity provider that you've installed air-con?? This is news to me...


----------



## Wally (Jan 28, 2018)

Aussiepride83 said:


> What?? You have to tell your electricity provider that you've installed air-con?? This is news to me...



You don't have to but Mr Armstrong seems slightly aggrieved that we haven't.


----------



## Flaviemys purvisi (Jan 28, 2018)

Wally said:


> You don't have to but Mr Armstrong seems slightly aggrieved that we haven't.


I'll give him a bell tomorrow first thing... LOL


----------



## Pauls_Pythons (Jan 28, 2018)

Mmmmm, well not wanting to doubt the facts that are presented it was 44 out at our place from early afternoon through to about 6pm. (And we are only about an hour outside the CBD.
48,000 homes still without power, fortunately we aren't one of them but I dread to think of those with very young children and the elderly and how they are coping. (The elderly struggle even when the power is on because its sooo damn expensive in this country and they simply can't afford to pay the bills).

That apart, in order to voice my opinion on the post......we have to get not only continuance of supply but also the cost simply must come down. There is really only one choice but it seems that its not a choice that is popular in Oz whether that is amongst the pollies or the people I'm not sure but we have little choice than to resort to nuclear energy at some time in the very near future surely?
[doublepost=1517143594,1517143372][/doublepost]Here you go.......8:20pm it was still 39


----------



## Flaviemys purvisi (Jan 28, 2018)

Pauls_Pythons said:


> The elderly struggle even when the power is on because its sooo damn expensive in this country and they simply can't afford to pay the bills.


You're on the money there... There's a 73 year old bloke down the street from me, have known him for about 15 years now, his wife died of cancer in August 2015 and he now literally lives in darkness... He's removed all the light bulbs from his house and lives at night by candle light and a solar-powered torch which he charges on his verandah every day. I often pass him whilst walking of an afternoon... I regularly drop by with a newspaper and a loaf of bread for him. It truly saddens me to see how the elderly are forced to live in this country whilst we're literally rolling out the red carpet for "refugees". I'm sorry if this offends anybody but it's just how I see it...


----------



## Nerdhero (Jan 29, 2018)

From my narrow and naive point of view it seems we simply need a sustainable energy source. 

I remember seeing a roof tile that doubled as a solar panel, solar seems to be the most promising option so far? I believe the company was Tesla who had the concept for these tiles.

I also recall reading into a solar panel that could replace roads. Essentially its lots of hexagon panels laid out, they have some kinda protective surface to allow for vehicles to drive on them. There was 2 awesome things to this concept, one was the massive amount of energy you could *theoretically* create. If every road in America was replaced with these solar panels there would be enough energy to power the country seven fold. The other cool thing was they had programmable (led?) screens on them which could be changed dynamically. So for example if theres a crash up ahead you could warn people approaching etc. 

These two concepts I read about in passing and I don't even come close to understanding them but on paper they seem promising. When I was younger I always found it odd how we had solar power but it was kinda primitive, like we have this free battery in the sky and we hardly put any money into learning how to harness it. As I've gotten older I've come to realise its all politcal, you think the big oil companies have ANY interest in seeing their business be superseded? I wouldn't be surprised if they actively tried to prevent solar power.


----------



## cement (Jan 29, 2018)

I'm not sure about todays panels but I have installed panels and battery banks on houses I have built in the bush off the grid. To my knowledge the act of producing the solar panels and batteries at that time was worse for the planet then burning coal to make power. Therefore they were unsustainable. Maybe now with newer technology they aren't, but I doubt it.


----------



## Pauls_Pythons (Jan 29, 2018)

Aussiepride83 said:


> It truly saddens me to see how the elderly are forced to live in this country whilst we're literally rolling out the red carpet for "refugees". I'm sorry if this offends anybody but it's just how I see it...



Not often I agree with you Kev but I'm not getting offended.



Nerdhero said:


> I remember seeing a roof tile that doubled as a solar panel, solar seems to be the most promising option so far? I believe the company was Tesla who had the concept for these tiles.



Solar panels are not the saviour that some believe them to be. Do some research on REE (Rare Earth Elements) and see how bad for the global environment the extraction of these are, and yes, these are a component of solar panels.


----------



## pinefamily (Jan 29, 2018)

The biggest problem with our power (and gas), is that it is privatised, ie run for a profit. Here in SA, before we got our you beaut battery farm, some of our blackouts in years gone by were produced by the power companies, by them selling the power for bigger profit to the eastern states. Also, they used to have rolling blackouts here when they didn't want to pay higher prices buying from the national grid.
The only way we will see lower prices is if the national grid is unprivatised totally. At the moment, there are too many fingers in the pie. 
It's privatisation that has caused these ridiculous power prices, not renewables. Imagine if these solar and wind farms around the country powered their own areas? 
Yes, solar panels do leave a large carbon footprint, but it is a one-off, not like coal which is ongoing. Technology is always changing. There are solar tiles, even solar windows being used in Europe. Other countries still have incentives for people to put in solar panels; why don't we?
The same sort of arguments apply in the electric vehicle debate. Big business puts a dampener on any expansion of an electric car market.


----------



## Sheldoncooper (Jan 29, 2018)

Aussiepride83 said:


> You're on the money there... There's a 73 year old bloke down the street from me, have known him for about 15 years now, his wife died of cancer in August 2015 and he now literally lives in darkness... He's removed all the light bulbs from his house and lives at night by candle light and a solar-powered torch which he charges on his verandah every day. I often pass him whilst walking of an afternoon... I regularly drop by with a newspaper and a loaf of bread for him. It truly saddens me to see how the elderly are forced to live in this country whilst we're literally rolling out the red carpet for "refugees". I'm sorry if this offends anybody but it's just how I see it...


I couldn't of said it better myself. Its a disgrace 


We sold most of our electricity companies to china and I'm guessing our government did well out of them sales 

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


----------



## GBWhite (Jan 29, 2018)

pinefamily said:


> The biggest problem with our power (and gas), is that it is privatised, ie run for a profit.
> The only way we will see lower prices is if the national grid is unprivatised totally. At the moment, there are too many fingers in the pie.
> It's privatisation that has caused these ridiculous power prices, not renewables.
> 
> ...



@pinefamily Absolutely agree 100% that the biggest problem was privatising our utilitie.

@Sheldoncooper Biggest mistake we've ever made getting in bed with China.


----------



## SpottedPythons (Jan 29, 2018)

GBWhite said:


> @pinefamily Absolutely agree 100% that the biggest problem was privatising our utilitie.
> 
> @Sheldoncooper Biggest mistake we've ever made getting in bed with China.


Definitely.


----------



## Scutellatus (Jan 29, 2018)

So they have a large share in our milk, a majority share in your power. What's next, Kakadu?


----------



## Sheldoncooper (Jan 29, 2018)

Scutellatus said:


> So they have a large share in our milk, a majority share in your power. What's next, Kakadu?


Not as silly as it sounds and we can probably throw in the barrier reef as well.
The guy i work for owns a few companies 
One of them is property development ( industrial ) we lease huge factories to companies i thought where aussie companies. ( Not any more ) we are a selling country. 

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


----------



## pinefamily (Jan 29, 2018)

Cattle stations too.


----------



## Sheldoncooper (Jan 29, 2018)

pinefamily said:


> Cattle stations too.


Yep we've mooooo, v'd them on too

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


----------



## Flaviemys purvisi (Jan 29, 2018)

Might as well take these and sell them off too... What a disgrace!


----------



## Pauls_Pythons (Jan 29, 2018)

GBWhite said:


> Biggest mistake we've ever made getting in bed with China.



They own more of Oz now than we do. And all we are is a service department providing them with resources.
I still don't understand why the driest continent on the planets attempts to grow cotton and rice to export for a pittance.


----------



## Flaviemys purvisi (Jan 29, 2018)

Our taxes are just rent.


----------



## Sheldoncooper (Jan 29, 2018)

Recently I've noticed what i think is a move in the media too, i think what alot of people call Right Wing movements these days aren't that at all. I Think its people that can see the childhoods they had have disappeared for there children. We look back to what we had and its no longer.
I'm certainly not blaming a particular race because there's good in everyone, but when we look at whats different between then and now. Its letting people in that only know war and fighting, they've been fighting with each other for ever and now they bring that mentality here. NOT ALL. but we blame what we don't know.
There's no hard right wing groups in this country, just people that don't like the change.



Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


----------



## Pauls_Pythons (Jan 29, 2018)

Sheldoncooper said:


> Recently I've noticed what i think is a move in the media too, i think what alot of people call Right Wing movements these days aren't that at all. I Think its people that can see the childhoods they had have disappeared for there children. We look back to what we had and its no longer.



Sort of but its not just about losing what we know is it? Its more than that, I fear for the very fabric of our society. This is not a fear of change it's about how damn difficult and expensive life is going to be for the next generation. I have 2 young grand daughters and I really can't see how they will ever be able to live independent lives with jobs so hard to come by and lifes basic's so expensive. People are being forced into so many changes without anyone even listening to the concerns. Common man the world over see's what is happening and understands the implications in long term yet those that represent us in the greater part don't even listen.


----------



## Imported_tuatara (Jan 29, 2018)

I wouldn't say jobs in general are hard to get, decent paying/traditional ones? Yeah, but not jobs in general.


----------



## Sheldoncooper (Jan 29, 2018)

Pauls_Pythons said:


> Sort of but its not just about losing what we know is it? Its more than that, I fear for the very fabric of our society. This is not a fear of change it's about how damn difficult and expensive life is going to be for the next generation. I have 2 young grand daughters and I really can't see how they will ever be able to live independent lives with jobs so hard to come by and lifes basic's so expensive. People are being forced into so many changes without anyone even listening to the concerns. Common man the world over see's what is happening and understands the implications in long term yet those that represent us in the greater part don't even listen.


Definitely 
And if we sell everything to overseas interests its only going to get harder.
I don't even want to think about how hard it will be for my young ones. I have to work like buggery now because in 10 to 20 years time I'll be selling the big house so they get a start. Not sure the missus agrees but hopefully she'll have Alzheimer's by then.
Actually it will be easier on me if i get it

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


----------



## Imported_tuatara (Jan 29, 2018)

Sheldoncooper said:


> Definitely
> And if we sell everything to overseas interests its only going to get harder.
> I don't even want to think about how hard it will be for my young ones. I have to work like buggery now because in 10 to 20 years time I'll be selling the big house so they get a start. Not sure the missus agrees but hopefully she'll have Alzheimer's by then.
> Actually it will be easier on me if i get it
> ...


 was I supposed to not laugh at that last bit?


----------



## Pauls_Pythons (Jan 29, 2018)

Imported_tuatara said:


> I wouldn't say jobs in general are hard to get, decent paying/traditional ones? Yeah, but not jobs in general.



Just jobs that will pay the bills. How many Aussies earn over the average income? Try buying a house, or even saving for a deposit on 50-60k a year. Plenty of jobs, casual or part time paying SFA


----------



## Sheldoncooper (Jan 29, 2018)

Pauls_Pythons said:


> Just jobs that will pay the bills. How many Aussies earn over the average income? Try buying a house, or even saving for a deposit on 50-60k a year. Plenty of jobs, casual or part time paying SFA


Banks won't be lending to people earning 50k within the next few years. 

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


----------



## Pauls_Pythons (Jan 29, 2018)

Sheldoncooper said:


> Banks won't be lending to people earning 50k within the next few years.



And thats when the housing market will collapse.


----------



## Sheldoncooper (Jan 29, 2018)

Pauls_Pythons said:


> And thats when the housing market will collapse.


its due they've been telling us the market is over inflated fo the last 15 years but it keeps going up

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


----------



## Scutellatus (Jan 29, 2018)

You should try buying a house when you have five kids. We need an income of $120-130,000 just to get a look-in.


----------



## Sheldoncooper (Jan 29, 2018)

Scutellatus said:


> You should try buying a house when you have five kids. We need an income of $120-130,000 just to get a look-in.


I'm in the middle of building atm and the budget has blown out by about 50k.
So i went back to the bank. I had a $500,000 deposit and i earn pretty good money. And there giving me a hard time to the extent they might pull the pin on me.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


----------



## Scutellatus (Jan 29, 2018)

Sheldoncooper said:


> I'm in the middle of building atm and the budget has blown out by about 50k.
> So i went back to the bank. I had a $500,000 deposit and i earn pretty good money. And there giving me a hard time to the extent they might pull the pin on me.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


Is that a typo? $500,000 is a hell of a deposit. It is ridiculous the way the lending criteria works. You can't even say you don't need to put anything down for 'entertainment' when we don't spend much at all on entertainment. With the rent we pay we could easily afford the repayments but don't have $120,000+ income so they won't even look at it. Maybe I just need to be shiftier and fudge the numbers in regard to income and how many kids we have.


----------



## Sheldoncooper (Jan 30, 2018)

Scutellatus said:


> Is that a typo? $500,000 is a hell of a deposit. It is ridiculous the way the lending criteria works. You can't even say you don't need to put anything down for 'entertainment' when we don't spend much at all on entertainment. With the rent we pay we could easily afford the repayments but don't have $120,000+ income so they won't even look at it. Maybe I just need to be shiftier and fudge the numbers in regard to income and how many kids we have.


I sold my previous house.
Its stupid how they work it.
They asked me how much i spend on fuel. I said i don't my work pay for fuel/ rego and insurance and they told me i had to put something down. How can i put a figure down if i dont have one.
And no bastard can afford entertainment these days

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


----------



## Yellowtail (Jan 30, 2018)

I just sold my house to a wealthy doctor who owns several medical centres and they will only lend him 75% of a very conservative valuation, I spoke to the valuer when he inspected and he was impressed with the property and thought the sale price was around the mark but the doctors bank discounted the value 20%, said it was their new policy with investment properties.


----------



## Scutellatus (Jan 30, 2018)

Sheldoncooper said:


> I sold my previous house.
> Its stupid how they work it.
> They asked me how much i spend on fuel. I said i don't my work pay for fuel/ rego and insurance and they told me i had to put something down. How can i put a figure down if i dont have one.
> And no bastard can afford entertainment these days
> ...


What sort of work do you do Sheldon? They sound like they have a very generous salary package. Also do they have a Qld division? I could use a job with perks like that!


----------



## Flaviemys purvisi (Jan 30, 2018)

Scutellatus said:


> Is that a typo? $500,000 is a hell of a deposit. It is ridiculous the way the lending criteria works. You can't even say you don't need to put anything down for 'entertainment' when we don't spend much at all on entertainment. With the rent we pay we could easily afford the repayments but don't have $120,000+ income so they won't even look at it. Maybe I just need to be shiftier and fudge the numbers in regard to income and how many kids we have.


I don't understand that at all... I bought my house, $400,000 with a deposit of $24,500 only back in March 2016. Didn't matter about income or number of dependants... all they needed to see was that my wife and I were in stable jobs and had been so for X amount of time and they wanted to see the savings for the deposit, rental history tennant ledger and an intact credit rating. I think you need to change banks.


----------



## GBWhite (Jan 30, 2018)

I really don't know why people even consider borrowing from banks, especially the big 4. There's plenty of money available outside the mainstream sources for housing. I've always found mortgage brokers and credit unions to be the go. Bought my last 2 places through finance from a credit union. Didn't have to pay a deposit for the one I'm in now just used the equity I had in my previous one which I sold 18 months ago for nice little profit. Because the valuation on the one I'm in now came in at over $150K above the purchase price I didn't have to use any of the profit to cover a deposit on this one. 

All they wanted to see when we bought both places was proof of income and we when we provide it for our current home they said that they could see that my wife's income was enough to cover repayments, insurance etc and that mine was more than a convenient extra. She only works casually and I'm a self employed Private Investigator. Despite both earning a good income it's two things (casual employment & self employment) that the banks frown upon when considering employment and income details for a loan application yet it didn't concern the credit union one way or the other. 

Last year my eldest boy went halves with a mate to buy a 5 bedder here in Bello and he didn't even need a deposit. My daughter just finalised a loan yesterday for a nice 3 bedder on a big block in Inverell that cost $275K on a $16K deposit. Both loans were obtained at a great interest rate through a mortgage broker.


----------



## Stompsy (Jan 30, 2018)

Pauls_Pythons said:


> Just jobs that will pay the bills. How many Aussies earn over the average income? Try buying a house, or even saving for a deposit on 50-60k a year. Plenty of jobs, casual or part time paying SFA


The biggest issue for me is that I live with a 14 year old and have to pay all the bills by myself. I earn above the average wage, so I'm on good money but I literally just scrape by every month. Buying a house for me has become a pipe dream and further to that, I would love to get a degree to move into working with animals but if I start one, I'll get money taken off me straight away and struggle to pay the bills.

It a no win situation. Especially when you live on your own...
[doublepost=1517261782,1517261617][/doublepost]


GBWhite said:


> I really don't know why people even consider borrowing from banks, especially the big 4. There's plenty of money available outside the mainstream sources for housing. I've always found mortgage brokers and credit unions to be the go. Bought my last 2 places through finance from a credit union. Didn't have to pay a deposit for the one I'm in now just used the equity I had in my previous one which I sold 18 months ago for nice little profit. Because the valuation on the one I'm in now came in at over $150K above the purchase price I didn't have to use any of the profit to cover a deposit on this one.
> 
> All they wanted to see when we bought both places was proof of income and we when we provide it for our current home they said that they could see that my wife's income was enough to cover repayments, insurance etc and that mine was more than a convenient extra. She only works casually and I'm a self employed Private Investigator. Despite both earning a good income it's two things (casual employment & self employment) that the banks frown upon when considering employment and income details for a loan application yet it didn't concern the credit union one way or the other.
> 
> Last year my eldest boy went halves with a mate to buy a 5 bedder here in Bello and he didn't even need a deposit. My daughter just finalised a loan yesterday for a nice 3 bedder on a big block in Inverell that cost $275K on a $16K deposit. Both loans were obtained at a great interest rate through a mortgage broker.


What credit unions did they go through?


----------



## pinefamily (Jan 30, 2018)

Neither of us are working at the moment, still living off the redundancy from my last job. When we bought our house in the country, we were nearly mortgage free. We pay $95 a week. Do you think the bank would consolidate our car loan and house loan, despite the massive equity? Of course not. In the same breath they tell us we are excellent customers in their ratings.


----------



## Sheldoncooper (Jan 30, 2018)

Scutellatus said:


> What sort of work do you do Sheldon? They sound like they have a very generous salary package. Also do they have a Qld division? I could use a job with perks like that!


I run a truck sales yard.
And if they had a qld devision i wouldn't be putting up with Melbourne winters. And i could collect alot more monitors. ( i think a qld devision is a good idea )

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


----------



## Flaviemys purvisi (Jan 30, 2018)

RAMS is happy to throw mortgages at me when I was previously told by ANZ that they wanted.me to save another 10k towards my deposit. I'd recommend RAMS to anyone wanting to buy their first home.


----------



## Wally (Feb 3, 2018)

I think the conversation I've started is a reasonable snapshot of the angst people are feeling throughout our great country.

It is however time someone grabbed the tiller and led this nation of ours. Pandering to minority groups and factions within the two major parties will do nothing but continue the last decade of uncertainty.

PS - I think it's time we as a nation had a grown up talk about nuclear energy.


----------

