After only a year of being operational, Evergen’s first intelligent home energy system was providing financial returns. Check out our results from this system and how it’s running “cash positive”.
What is a cash positive investment? It’s when the cash you get out of an investment in a year is more than you put in to it. It’s a simple idea but often valuable investments are not cash positive until they’re sold. Many people who invest in property for example find that the rent they receive doesn’t cover the cost of their mortgage, so they have to find more money each year to pay the difference. In fact for many people, this negative cash flow investment is the norm. But some home investments provide returns that more than cover the annual funding costs.
Can an investment in an intelligent energy system provide cash positive annual returns? Let’s look at the numbers for Evergen’s first system after a year of operation to see if made it.
The returns
The reduction in the annual energy bill for the first intelligent energy system was about $1,800.
The cost
While intelligent energy systems can be paid for with an upfront cost, if we calculate what the payments could have been if spread over time, we can compare with the returns on an annual basis. For many people with a mortgage, using an offset or drawdown facility to fund improvements to their home is a good option. So let’s see what the annual repayment could be for an investment in an intelligent energy system using an existing mortgage.
The first Evergen system included 5.7kW of solar PV, and 7.5kW of battery capacity. Fully installed, today this size of system would cost about $14,800.
Using a standard mortgage repayment calculator (we used Westpac’s), an increase of $14,800 on a standard 30 year mortgage with an interest rate of 4% would result in an annual repayment of $848.
The verdict
So with a return of $1,800 in the first year and a repayment of $848, that means the intelligent energy system could be cash positive by $952. In fact, with this level of savings, the system would still be cash positive based on a 10-year mortgage instead of a 30-year one.
So even if the rest of the house isn’t cash positive, at least the energy system can be.
Are you ready to switch to green power that will save you 80% on your electricity bill? Request a quote for your Intelligent Home Energy System installation today
