Cost of Solar, Stops Cash Flow Too Much

The effect of the increase in the price of electricity is hitting all business hard in the current financial situation, the managing director of a chain of hotels and a highly influential figure in the Australia Hotel Association (AHA) took the time to have a few words and shed some light on how the increase in price is affecting his business.

The publican said that at his largest premises the bill for the month of September 2012 was $25,000; although usage decreased 9% from September 2011 the bill increased by 15%. This is a significant increase taking into consideration energy consumption had fallen year on year. The price of the electricity had increased 2 cents per kWh caused by the ‘Carbon Adjustment’ that has recently been introduced by the government. This increase of energy costs, along with other increases in operating cost, has forced the prices of food, drinks and accommodation in the hotels to increase which at the end of the day have to be passed on to the consumer. Although the publican has tried to keep his prices down he said that if the operating costs, like electricity, are going to keep going up then so too are the prices of products and services.

Once asked about the possibility of using solar power and the impact of greenhouse gasses, which the $25,000 bill stated that 9.7 tonnes had been omitted from this one hotel, on the environment the publican stated that the idea had crossed his mind and he would love to start saving money and reducing his businesses impact on the environment but it was not financially viable. “Look, we would love to reduce our electricity cost with solar or another more sustainable solution, but the set up cost of putting solar on your roof would just be too much and be a real interruption to the cash flow of our business” commented the publican. The idea of being able to drop electricity prices and reduces greenhouses gasses with no set up cost was welcomed by the publican and commented that other publicans he knows throughout Australia, through the AHA, would also be very interested.

Is there other main industries that are high users of energy but could not afford the upfront set up cost of solar? Can we help them to help the planet? I think yes and yes!

By Scott Oakley