Panorama Solar helping Bathurst residents save on electricity bills

And a Bathurst based solar panel and battery business has noticed an increase in people on a mission to become more self-sufficient.

Panorama Solar sells and installs solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicle (EV) chargers.

And owner Tony Campbell said it's the battery enquiries that are noticeably going up.

"It really is at the stage now where - and the electricians are telling us this - that just putting solar on is good, but once you've got a battery you really start to notice a difference," Mr Campbell said.

"The thing about a battery is, once you've got it, as long as it's charged, you're off-grid until the battery goes flat.

"So it's not a case of saving it up during the day and using it at night, the battery is working constantly to direct the load where it should be."

Mr Campbell said every situation is different, and for someone who works from home, or is in the house during the day with the kids, solar panels definitely help cut costs.

However, for a household where no one is home during the day, a lot of the solar energy isn't used and goes back into the grid.

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This is where batteries are beneficial, and customers don't need solar panels to get a battery installed.

Mr Campbell said a good way to save on the electricity bill with a battery is by charging it overnight during the provider's off-peak time, which means residents are paying less to charge the battery.

Then, during the day, they use the energy from the battery to run all household appliances.

And with Mr Campbell expecting more power stations to close down in the future, he said demand for solar and batteries will only increase.

"[Electricity's] gone up 20 percent now and it will go up again, and as they shut the power stations - Liddell's gone, Hazelwood's gone, Port Augusta's gone in South Australia - the demand on the grid will be bigger," he said.

Investing in solar panels and batteries isn't like buying a plasma television - the price won't come down overtime, according to Mr Campbell.

So he recommends people think and plan ahead.

Especially people planning to have children in the future, where they will be at home a lot during the day.

"My view is if everyone is semi-independent, one; they're reducing the need for coal, but two; they're also future-proofing themselves," Mr Campbell said.

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