So lets delve into the numbers around electricity consumption and generation in the northwest!
Firstly a little geography - this is the region that Geni.Energy services and we call it the Northwest!
BTW Sydney is about 600km to the south east of this part of NSW.
Some of our more famous towns you may have heard of are Narrabri, Gunnedah, Moree, Coonabarabran, Walgett, Gilgandra and Coonamble!
In 2021/2022 this region accounted for only 1.94% of the state’s Essential Energy customers and yet consumed 4.68% of the total Essential Energy electricity.
Residential Energy Use Remains Strong
In the last nine years the growth in residential consumption has been:
NSW has seen an overall 6% growth in the average daily energy consumption per residential customer (from 12.59 kWh/day to 13.38kWh/day)
Northwest has jumped 15% (from 17.08kWh/day to 20.14kWh/day)
Narrabri has reduced by 1% (from 18.08kWh/day to 17.95kWh/day)
This shows a steady demand for electricity and it highlights that Northwest residents are considerably larger energy users on average than the state.
Currently all of the cost of this residential electricity is an economic leakage from the region. The region’s annual residential consumption is 182,425 MWh p.a. If this is valued at a retail energy price of 28c/kWh, this is a total cost of over $51 million per year, currently leaking from the region.
The total amount of domestic controlled load used each year is 50,814MWh, which when valued at 12c/kWh is a total of $6 million currently leaking from the region.
Electrcity Generation and Export Going Gangbusters
The total amount of energy exported, the total number of export customers and the average amount of electricity exported per customer have all grown at both the NSW and the Northwest scales.
Since 2013/14 NSW residential customers’ average export has increased from 7.95kWh/day to 11.33kWh/day (30% increase), while Northwest residential customers’ average export has increased from 8.21kWh/day to 9.89kWh/day (17% increase) and Narrabri’s export customers has increased from 7.17kWh/day to 10.08kWh/day (29% increase).
This would indicate an already good penetration of solar in the Northwest: on average in Essential Energy’s NSW grid 31% of residential energy users also export solar, compared with Northwest average of which is 49% and Narrabri LGA which is 44%.
Currently a total of 44,081MWh/pa is exported from the region, likely at an average price of around 12c/kWh, generating about $5 million of revenue for local residents.
Business Consumption Is High
Narrabri LGA’s annual electricity consumption by business customers is the tenth largest in the Essential Energy network, yet is ranked 120 out of 348 in the number of business customers in the network.
The average daily business consumption for the Northwest is consistent with the state average at 146kWh/day and NSW at 141kWh/day. However, the Narrabri LGA, has a massive average daily use of 398kWh/day.
The 1,055 business customers in the Narrabri LGA consumed 153,388 MWh/pa in 2021/22, with an average of 145MWh/pa. At a 30c/kWh tariff, the cost to the businesses community is over $6 million, with the average business paying $43,600/pa in electricity costs.
In the Northwest the average business would be spending $16,000/pa with a total of $98 million leaving the region in electricity costs.
Installing solar for businesses is an absolute no-brainer. When the majority of business usage is during 9am to 5pm, this is when solar generation is the highest, meaning a well-designed system, tailored to your energy use can save 60%-80% of your energy costs.
For larger systems we can connect you with finance options that mean within a few years you'll have paid off your system, whilst not paying any more for electricity. These plans are usually cash-flow positive from day one for businesses and farms.
