The Journey to Electrical Self-Sufficiency within Strata

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Strata solar — Scarlett, Robert’s Model Y has to charge in the garden. Photo courtesy Robert Nichol.

We have met Robert Nicol and his car Scarlet before. He told me recently about how he convinced his strata block to install solar. I asked him to write me some notes and, wonderfully, he has written the whole article. There are some good lessons in this for those still battling.

We were looking to downsize prior to retirement and moved into the SE QLD strata in 2019. The building was 18 months old then. Given most of the residents were as old as or a decade or two older than us saw me elected to the Strata Committee within nine months of moving in, the sucker that I am.

My ambition was to “have skin in the game” and make sure the building was maintained well. I soon realised that the common area expenses were large. The question everyone on the committee was asking was how do we reduce costs without reducing services. Electricity usage stood out as the bogeyman in our equation. Electricity while only costing us $0.19 kWh in 2019 was costing us $3500 a quarter to keep the lifts and lights on.

What to do?

Upon conducting an energy audit, I soon learned that we had LED lighting on movement sensors and timers everywhere in the common areas. The biggest consumer of electricity by far were the two lifts, no great discovery there.

The next part of the research in how to reduce costs was to investigate solar PV. Being the resident geek, I researched and obtained quotes for cheap systems all the way to the expensive systems. Prices varied by quite a margin. Given that I didn’t want to be blamed for any fires or items going bang, I backed myself early by going with my life experience of purchasing quality mid-range products. I settled on an upper mid-level cost unit that would be supplied and fitted by a well respected local solar company.

The Strata Process

This process involved several reports to the committee for guidance along the way. Once the committee settled upon the one I had decided was our best bang for buck, we then needed to write a proposal to take to the Annual General Meeting (AGM). Nobody said this was going to be a quick process!

Off to the AGM and my proposal to spend $40,000 of everyone’s money had me nervous. Turned out my proposal centred on saving money in the future worked. We estimated that we would break even within five years. Who knew that electricity prices locally would rise by 50% over the next four years?

Solar Panel Installation

No sooner did I get this voted up at the AGM, I blinked, and was also elected Secretary on the strength of this proposal. Finance was organised. Being a new strata, we had no real money in the bank, had no credit rating. So, we sorted out a green loan for half the cost of the project, with us using half of our sinking fund account of $20,000 to pay for the project.

Contracts were signed, equipment was ordered, cranes were hired. Then COVID struck. Lockdowns happened. We managed to get the project installed during March 2021. Meanwhile, I was still working with an abundance of caution as an ambulance officer. Adding to the increased workload, mandated vaccination, the wearing of masks and gloves and gowns became my daily grind. This all added to the weariness of the situation. No staying at home for this bloke.

In the middle of 2021, I decided that I had had a gutful of struggling through working within COVID protocols and retired early. The 2015 V6 Camry was still a trusty steed but was starting to cost money in additional repairs. One of my dreams was to purchase an electric vehicle. In June 2022, I placed an order within the first hour of the Tesla Model Y RWD becoming available to the Australian market.

The struggle of an EV owner in strata is real.

Well, the ease of getting the solar PV project had lulled me into a false sense of security or belief that the community would understand my purchase. As secretary, I formally wrote to the committee and requested I be able to install an EVSE charge point in the basement carpark. I was not ready for the verbal assaults from all the tin-foil hat wearers. You would have thought I was going to rape and eat their grandchildren, the vitriol was so great.

After ten letters, I had a dummy spit and advised the committee that if they were not willing to compromise, then I was off to the Office of the Commissioner of Bodies Corporate to seek a public order to force them to see reason. The Office of the CBC is a local court that specialises in disputes. These are all published on the internet, and anyone thinking of a prospective purchase can look up the records. This must have given the committee pause, as they saw reason and compromised and allowed me to install a 3-phase charge point in the visitor’s carpark as far from the building as possible. Not ideal but better than nothing. I took that as a win, installed the charge point, and resigned from the committee.

The solar panels are paid off, now what?

Fast forward to 2025, I’m still a sucker and am now the Chairperson for the Strata Committee. Will I ever learn? The panels have generated enough savings to have paid off the project. Our electricity consumption has remained relatively the same. The only thing that has changed is the 50% increase in electricity costs and the Feed In Tariff (FIT) dropping from $0.05 kWh to $0.04 kWh. FIT is what the grid pays us for our exported electricity. Did I mention that we export over 50% of the power we produce? This project has paid back the total $40,000 in four years.

What to do next. We have had a professional Sinking Fund Forecast (long term expenditure account such as for painting the building etc.) completed. Our common area electricity costs are creeping up. We earmarked AU$100,000 to spend in 2027 for a battery. Personally, I believe it will be closer to $200,000 but you have to crawl before you start walking.

I have already done some very preliminary investigations into batteries and am about to embark on research. The plan is to obtain a system where we can add modular batteries to the system as the price of batteries decreases over time and our demand for electricity increases.

The ultimate goal is to become as energy independent as possible, while staying connected to the grid. What I am working towards is increasing the rooftop solar as required and increasing the batteries as needed, all the while creating our own embedded electricity network and selling the electricity to the residents at a slightly reduced price — enough to make opting in a compelling financial benefit. This will in turn place downward pressure on the strata fees.

Strata power independence is a long, hard road to travel down. Quite apart from having the space to install solar PV on the roof, the greatest difficulty is being able to convince the residents of the viability of the plan. What I have discovered over the last six years is most people have little understanding of science and specifically electricity and batteries. This goes for many who have purchased an EV. They expect to just plug it in and it charges in no time. They are unaware of amps, kilowatts, kWh, circuits, A/C and D/C electricity, etc.

The FUD that is created by the mass media is not helping this situation ether. Since COVID, people, especially the retired folk, have locked themselves inside their homes, turned on FOX etc., consumed the FUD that is constantly fed them, and are fearful of venturing out into the real world, let alone listening to opposing points of view. Even when they are scientifically backed.

One thing most understand is money and are all about saving it. Whether they are willing to spend some now to save a lot more in the short to medium term is yet to be determined in our situation. Not wanting to “startle the horses,” my approach will be to focus the proposal on the money saving aspect. Go lite on the science.