Nigel Ramsay

Wellington, New Zealand

Comparison of fossil-fuel with electric-only energy costs for spring

02 April 2021

In the last few years, our family have transitioned from fossil-fuel based energy to electric only. We have done this primarily to reduce our CO2 emissions, but it is interesting to also see the impact that the change has on energy costs.

The changes we made were for both transport and for heating. You can read more about this in earlier posts on conversion from gas central heating to heat-pump based central heating and also driving in an electric vehicle.

Pre-electric energy costs

Here are the costs for October 2018:

Energy source - October 2018 Supplier Cost
Natural Gas Genesis $181
Electricity Flick Electric (lots of solar generation) -$43
Diesel (110 litres) Fuel stations $145 @ $1.32 / litre)
Total $283

Post-electric energy costs

Here are the energy costs for October 2020:

Energy source - October 2020 Supplier Cost
Electricity Ecotricity $194
Total $194

Summary

Ironically, the solar panels in 2018 made a substantial difference to the overall bill, with a $43 credit being applied for the excess electicity generation we exported to the grid. Without the solar panels, the difference would have been closer to $200 for the month of October.

The overall saving is around $89 per month on the electric-only solution.

screenshot of electricity invoice for October 2020