Media Release: New Solar + Battery Members Plan Makes Energy Trading Easy and More Profitable For Solar Owners

26 October 2020

Media release: New Solar + Battery Members Plan Makes Energy Trading Easy and More Profitable For Solar Owners

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Sunbank Solar, an Australian-owned and operated solar battery installer, today announced the availability of its new Solar + Battery Members Plan to help improve the trading power of solar owners across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory.

Developed over the past three years, the Members Plan will allow customers to take back control of their rooftop solar systems to markedly improve their return on investment in solar.

Over many years, rising energy prices have continued to put pressure on everyday Australians. While savvy consumers invested in their own solar systems to take advantage of subsidies and high returns on the surplus energy they produced, solar customers are now facing diminishing returns as feed-in tariffs drop from as high as $0.60 to as low as $0.06 per kiloWatt-hour (kWh).

Sunbank Solar has established Members Energy, the revolutionary new energy provider of the Solar + Battery Members Plan designed to help Australians maximise profit potential when selling excess solar energy and improving solar battery performance.

Informed by in-depth consumer research, the Solar + Battery Members Plan will give Australians 100 per cent of the profits from their energy with no upper limit on how much they can earn, a minimum feed-in tariff (that will never fall below the industry standard), complete flexibility with no lock-in contracts, and a simple daily membership.

Solar SG Chairman Rod Woolley said that while home solar systems continue to increase in popularity, there is still a high level of scepticism about the returned value of solar batteries that connect into the National Energy Market (NEM).

“We wanted to build a new system where Australians were the winners when it comes to the use of the solar energy they generate,” Mr Woolley said. “For too long, the big energy companies have reaped the benefits of the investment of everyday homeowners.”

“We knew that if we were going to continue to make rooftop solar and battery systems attractive to consumers, we had to find a way to make them better value for money. Australians once enjoyed modest feed-in tariffs of as high as $0.60 per kWh, but the major energy companies are now only paying back a few cents. This is why we established Members Energy, to give the power back to the people.

“The new solar energy trading network gives complete control to homeowners who will once again see the major benefits of their solar batteries. Australians are fed up with selling their solar energy for $0.06 a kWh, only for their energy company to make profit from their investment – particularly when they know they could have the opportunity to sell their energy for up to $14 when prices are at their peak.

“The Solar + Battery Members Plan gives new solar customers – or those thinking of buying a battery – a significant increase in return on investment and speed to payback, so they can break even faster on their solar investment,” Mr Woolley said.

The Solar + Battery Members Plan features intelligent energy management software delivered by clean energy software leader Evergen, providing Australians with greater control of their solar batteries. Evergen was founded in 2015 through a collaboration between CSIRO and AMP Capital.

The Evergen Intelligent Control uses real-time data to ensure a home’s solar and battery system performance is optimised, and can be accessed via the Members Energy App. The app is available on Apple iOS and Google Android.

The minimum feed-in tariff is guaranteed; however, automation technology will ensure that excess energy will be sold back to the NEM at the highest rate available, while maintaining a minimum of 20 per cent capacity in solar batteries for homeowner usage.

“We are excited to see our technology allowing Australians who’ve invested in storage to benefit from the energy market evolution. Renewable energy is the cheapest and greenest form of energy, and we expect this to be reflected on Members Energy’s bills. VPPs are a revolutionary way of rewarding solar + battery homeowners and we anticipate the Members Energy VPP being the world’s largest residential VPP by the end of 2021,” said Evergen’s CEO and Managing Director Ben Hutt.

“We intend to grow the Solar + Battery Members Plan community to become the world’s largest VPP and will have more than 20,000 users within the next 12 months,” Mr Woolley said. “We are giving Aussies more power to reap the benefits when the spot price is high during summer peaks, while having the security of a minimum selling price when there is less demand for their energy.”

The Members Energy Solar + Battery Members Plan is now available and the VPP will be open for all solar companies to access for their customers in 2021. For more information or to register for a plan, visit www.membersenergy.com.au.