Why Your Electricity Bill Is Still High Even With Solar (Mackay Region)

Why Your Electricity Bill Is Still High Even With Solar in the Mackay Region

How Solar Performance and Billing Structures Affect Your Business Costs

Electricity billing for commercial and industrial businesses in the Mackay region operates under complex structures like demand, peak, and ratcheting charges. When your solar system underperforms or fails, these billing mechanisms can lock in inflated energy costs for months.

Solar Doctor Saver helps local businesses avoid these costly traps through expert solar maintenance, system monitoring, and performance restoration – protecting your bottom line from unpredictable energy expenses.

Understanding How Electricity Billing Works for Commercial & Industrial Businesses

Unlike residential customers, commercial and industrial energy users are billed under demand-based structures that measure how and when you draw power from the grid – not just how much you use.

In the Mackay region, Ergon / Energex Energy’s tariffs can be complex and difficult to interpret without specialist knowledge.
Solar Doctor Saver helps you understand and manage these key billing components:

General Demand Charges

Calculated on your average power draw in short intervals (typically 15–30 minutes).
Charged in $/kVA or $/kW per month, usually between 23–36¢ per kWh.
Represents the strain your business places on the grid, not total energy used.

This charge is ongoing – even if your total consumption decreases. A failing solar system means more grid reliance, raising this base cost month after month.

Peak Demand Charges

Typically apply between 2 pm and 8 pm, the grid’s most stressed period.
Targets your highest recorded power usage during those hours.
In the Mackay Ergon region, rates vary from $21–$40 per kVA per month.
Larger users are billed in kVA, not kWh.

Peak demand charges encourage businesses to flatten their load — using solar effectively to reduce spikes during high-cost periods.
If your system isn’t producing power when you need it most, your energy bill will surge.

Ratcheting Demand - The Most Dangerous Charge

Locks in your highest ever demand peak, even if it lasted just 15 minutes.
You may continue paying for that peak demand level for up to 12 months, even when your actual usage drops.
Applies to general or peak demand depending on your tariff.

This is where solar maintenance is critical — a single fault or outage at the wrong time can trigger ratcheting costs that inflate your energy bills for an entire year.

Why Solar System Performance Directly Impacts Billing

Your commercial energy plan may include all three charge types, and they stack – dramatically increasing total costs if your solar system fails to offset grid demand.

For example:

Your site hits a 450 kVA peak at 2:30 pm (peak period).
You’re billed $21–$40 per kVA for that month.
If ratcheting applies, you’ll continue paying for 450 kVA monthly — even if your demand later drops to 200 kVA.
General demand charges may still apply for off-peak periods.

When your solar system underperforms, these charges compound fast.

The Cost of Neglecting Solar Maintenance

An unmaintained or faulty solar system can:

Fail to offset grid usage during peak times.
Trigger ratcheting charges lasting up to 12 months.
Increase effective energy costs from 32¢/kWh to $40+/kWh.
Cause unpredictable, inflated electricity bills.

Solar isn’t just about generating power — it’s about reliability and timing and managing that power while it’s available.

If your system isn’t operating during demand peaks, your business pays the price.
🟨 Regular Servicing = Predictable Savings
🟥 Neglect = Expensive Surprises

Simplified Breakdown of Complex Billing

Solar Doctor Saver makes Ergon / Energex’s billing structures easy to understand.

We help you:

Decode energy bills and identify unnecessary charges.
Monitor and optimise demand peaks.
Maintain system health for consistent solar contribution.
Implement proactive energy strategies that protect your cashflow.

Protect Your Turnover, Cashflow & Overheads

Billing inefficiencies from an underperforming solar system can quietly erode profit margins, affecting cashflow and overheads.

Our specialist solar maintenance services fix performance issues early, ensuring your solar asset supports – not sabotages – your financial performance.

Take The Next Step

Your solar system should be working for you – not against you.
If you haven’t checked your system in the past 12 months, chances are it’s not performing at full capacity.

📞 Call (07) 4955 6441
🩺 Book Your Solar Doctor Health Check
➡️ Learn More: Commercial & Industrial Solar System Maintenance