Are there any suppliers who price power for seasonal-scale counter-cyclical demand? It’s probably an unusual situation, but there may be others in a similar situation. I’ll explain why:
We live in a relatively remote area, but still with grid connection. We started our home in the 1990s, making sure it was highly energy efficient. In Summer we use little power, the house doesn’t need air-conditioning and we use solar hot water. In Winter, despite being in high mountains in Southern NSW, we get by with heating and water from a wood stove (using wood naturally available in the forest we have regenerated), so again low impact). But we hit a problem in late Autumn and early Spring: the stove is really only efficient if it’s run 24 hours, but then it’s impossibly hot during the day, so we don’t use it. Which leaves electricity as our only alternative to heat the house at night, and to generate enough hot water. A solar system large enough to cover the demand in this brief window (maybe three months a year) would be hopelessly inefficient the rest of the year, so using the grid makes sense. Since these are the times of low demand on the network, we should presumably be attractive to distributors. But I haven’t been able to find any distributors who offer time-of-year (as distinct from time-of-day) pricing. This is a bit of a surprise, as time-of-year pricing (unlike time-of-day) would presumably not require any extra infrastructure. Maybe it’s just oo much of a niche market for the distributors to care, But just hoping someone may be aware of such an offer.
Assume you have determined the increased system size required to cover this need.
Assuming you can export any surplus from solar PV it may still be the most efficient outcome. It should be a simple exercise to compare the cost of the additional grid consumption over time vs the cost of upgrading the solar system, and partial offset of additional export income.
The best source of information on alternate supply plans may be your electricity retailer and select competitors. Whether any consider a benefit in a time of year tariff? The daily swings between residential peak demand and minimum demand are very large. It may not be something they have considered, but would likely not be attractive to a retailer to offer cheap supply for the morning and evening peaks.
Depending on how your heating is delivered there may be some better ways to use the electricity that is available, EG using increased heat storage capacity with a hydronic system if you have one to use off peak electrical power with a heat pump. The relative costs of such upgrades are typically high. Hence negating any benefit of cheaper electricity.
For the requirement perhaps an LPG heater would suffice? Many can be configured for LPG.
Elgas retails them as do most of the ‘appliance shops’ like The Good Guys, Harvey Norman, etc.
Installing one obviously requires a capital expense but the comfort to operating costs may be attractive compared to running an electric heater over time?
It will be a retailer who would offer such a pricing profile.
The only thing I can think of is if you were a high user (which you aren’t - there are thresholds such as min 500kW/day) and it was an option for you (such as being a business) , it to consider entering the contestable energy market. The contestable market, from what I understand, isn’t available to small domestic type users.
The contestable market matches usage profile with energy futures, and forecast spot electricity prices on a particular time based on one’s usage. It would work tor your scenario, but is unlikely to be available to you.
I have been involved in transitioning a high user to the contestable market…but…there are significant risks associated with entering the contestable market place…and why it isn’t usually offered to small domestic users.
The domestic electricity market hasn’t been set up for individual pricing based in one’s own usage at a particular time. Such approach could be attractive for some, but extremely complex for most. The pricing system is set is for the majority, not the few which could benefit from alternative approaches.
