Huge savings after just four years

I’ve been toying with the idea of installing solar panels and a Tesla Powerwall in my house for a long time, but I haven’t because I wasn’t entirely convinced about the long term savings. This story of an Australian household saving $5,700 on electricity bills may have changed that.

According to Natural Solar — a Tesla Powerwall and solar panel installer in Australia — this is what happened to the Pfitzner family, which it claims are the first home in that continent to install the Powerwall four years ago. Looking back at their electricity invoices, the family claims that they have saved $5,700 so far in bills.

How does the Tesla Powerwall work?

The setup is very simple. You can install the Tesla Powerwall — or a similar device — at any home. It’s a set of smart batteries contained in an electronically monitored package. The package is connected to an energy generator like a solar panel. The Powerwall then provides with electricity to the entire house.

The system ensures a constant flow of energy to your entire home. At night, it will supply all the energy. During the day, it will kick in to supplement the solar panels output whenever they can’t keep up with the home’s demand.

You don’t even have to have a solar system in place. There are households that use these batteries to grab energy from the standard power grid when the prices are low (like deep at night or certain hours during the day) and store it for later use, so they can keep prices down. But obviously, if you have a way to generate energy yourself, the savings will be dramatically bigger. Enough to allow you cutting the cord from the power grid entirely.

Read more: Tom’s Guide