Your solar is working. So why is the bill still this high?
Feed-in tariffs have collapsed. You export your daytime power for a few cents, then buy it back at night for thirty. The panels are fine. The deal built around them is where the money goes.
Energen finds exactly where your bill is leaking, and puts the fix in writing. A battery, the right retailer, or a system that quietly stopped performing.
Takes about a minute. No obligation, no sales visit required to start.
Four places your money leaks after the panels go on
Your system can be working perfectly and your bill can still barely move. These are the four reasons, and only one of them is the panels.
The feed-in collapse
Export rates have fallen to a few cents, while grid power at night sits above thirty. Every unit your house does not use the moment it is made is sold at a loss.
The biggest leakNo battery to hold it
Without storage, the power your panels make at midday is long gone by the time you cook dinner and run the heating. So you buy it back. You paid for that power twice.
Paid twice, day then nightA system quietly underperforming
Panels degrade, inverters fault, strings drop offline. If no one is checking, you keep paying for power you should be generating and never notice the gap.
Nobody is checkingThe plan you signed years ago
Feed-in rates and tariffs vary a lot between retailers. Most solar owners were signed up once and never moved, on terms set before export rates fell.
Set and forgottenWe find the leak, then we price the fix
Solar on its own typically trims a bill by around 18 percent. Solar paired with a battery, around 40 percent (ACCC, 2025). Real figures, not a promise of free power.
Do not take our word for it. Energen is a licensed Melbourne business. Check us, and anyone else you are considering, on the public registers:
- Solar Accreditation Australia, required for the federal discount
- Energy Safe Victoria, electrical licences
- New Energy Tech Consumer Code
Ed and the Melbourne team call you back themselves
Most solar enquiries go into a queue and come back as a scripted call from someone who has never seen your roof or your bill. At Energen a real person from the Melbourne team calls you, usually the same day in business hours, to tell you whether there is a leak worth fixing at all.
If a battery does not pay for itself in your house, I will tell you. I would rather lose the sale than sell you something that does not stack up. Ed, founder, Energen
Get your free bill assessment
Three quick questions. We will come back with where your money is going and what it would take to stop it.
What is realistic, in plain numbers
No one can promise your exact saving without seeing your home and your usage. But here is the published, honest range, so you can tell straight away whether a claim is in the real world.
Bill-reduction figures are ACCC typical ranges (2025). Battery pricing from SolarQuotes and CHOICE (2026), after the federal Cheaper Home Batteries discount. These are industry figures, not a quote or a promise of savings. Your own result depends on your home, usage, tariff and the system you have.
Four straight answers
Why is my bill still high when I have solar?
Usually because the power is leaving your house before you use it. Feed-in tariffs have fallen to a few cents, so the daytime power you export earns very little, while the power you buy back in the evening is charged at the full rate. Without a battery, or on an older plan, most of the value of your system is being sold at a loss and bought back at a premium.
Is a battery actually worth it for my house?
It depends more on your evening usage and your tariff than on the battery itself. For a home that uses a lot of power after dark, storing the midday generation can cut a meaningful share of the bill. For a home that is empty in the evenings, it may not stack up. We would rather tell you it does not than sell you one that does not.
How would I know if my system is underperforming?
Often you would not, which is the problem. Panels degrade slowly, an inverter can fault, and a string can drop offline without any obvious sign. If no one has checked your generation against what the system should produce, a fault can sit there costing you every quarter. A health check compares the two.
What rebates are there, and are they changing?
Federally, small-scale technology certificates reduce the upfront cost of solar, and the Cheaper Home Batteries Program does the same for batteries installed alongside solar. Both step down on 1 January 2027, and eligibility is set by the date the compliance certificate is issued, not the date you sign. State schemes change often, so we confirm current eligibility when we assess your job.