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There are quite a few apps out there that can tell you what the most cost effective electricity retailers in terms of their rate and discount comparisions are but not many (if any) can give an accurate account in terms of what you actually take from and send to the grid at your own premises. I have attempted to rectify this by introducing an electricity retailer app with a special focus on solar systems that allows you to compare your current retailer's actual costs (or credits) with the new electricity retailers costs by using your current retailer's bill data in the calculations . This produces a cost/credit difference between your current retailer and the new retailer where this difference can determine whether you are better or worse off with your current electricity retailer. As such, I have constructed pages with forms where you can add all the relevant information from your electricity bill(s) including the rates and discounts from the new electricity retailer(s) being compared.

For more information on electricity retailer rates and charges visit the vic gov website Compare.

All of the entered information is stored to your local browser environment using latest technology indexedDB database storage. It means that the information saved can be retrieved at any time on the same browser even if the device had been powered down.

How to use the app:

This is done by entering your current retailer rates and discounts to the 'Current offer' form then adding all of the new retailer's usage, service charges and discounts as displayed on their websites to the 'New offer' form. To the 'Data' page you load your actual electricity usage information as shown on your collection of electricity bills over the payment periods. Pressing the 'Comp' button takes you to the 'Compare' form that shows all of the comparisons made with your current retailer to all of the new retailers previously entered at the 'New retailer' form.

The 'Comp' page consists of outcomes to the calculations to determine the final costs of all the new retailers and your current electricity retailer to produce a cost difference. By summing all of these differences for each new retailer over every billing period gives a total cost difference that can be used to make comparisons with your current retailer. As such we can now arrange the new retailers in order from best to worst when comparing with your current retailer.

Use of the app in detail:

1. Enter your current retailer information to the appropriate fields onto the 'Current offer' form (fig 1)...

Figure 1. Current electricity retailer form

Then press 'Save this retailer' button to save this information to your local data base. Now press 'New'.

2. To the 'New offer' form (fig 2) enter the information on all of the electricity retailers you want to compare with your current retailer...

Figure 2. New retailer form

Press 'Save new retailer' button to store the information then press 'Data'.

3. On the 'Bill Data' form (fig 3) you need to include all of the electricity data used as shown on your monthly or quarterly electricity bill. You can add any number of billing periods with a minimum of one. Typically a form could contain billing period name, over how many days, the prime usage in kWh and if you have solar the amount of electricity sent to the grid in kWh.

Figure 3. The Data form

Press 'Save new data' to save then press 'Comp'.

4. Finally on the 'Compare' form (fig 4) you will see all of the comparisons between your current retailer and the new retailers entered at step 2. Most notably, under the headers of Best Solar and Best No Solar are the cost differences in new retailers to your current retailer listed in order from highest to lowest.

The solar to no solar ratio represents one of the safest retailers (best solar with best no solar combination) you would consider if the solar system goes offline for any length of time. To help in your selection of the safest retailer use the 'Max NoSolar diff' field to enter the maximum amount (refer to the No Solar totals of each retailer) you are prepared to lose if your solar system goes down then press 'Save'.

Figure 4. The Compare form

Below the form you will see (in fig 5) the comparison outcomes of all the new retailers (entered at step 2) over the billing periods entered at step 3.

Figure 5. Outcome of a comparison between the current retailer and a new retailer

Where:

• Blue indicates the credit amounts as a result of to-the-grid energy from your solar system being greater than what was taken from the grid.
• Green is the new retailer result is better than your current retailer's result (a positive difference).
• Black shows the new retailer result is worse than the current retailer's result (a negative difference).
• Yellow indicates a zero balance or no difference between the current and new retailer.
• Diff is the difference between the two retailer outcomes for both Solar and No Solar over each billing period where green indicates the new retailer has a better outcome than the current retailer.
• % shows the difference between the two retailers as a percentage.
• Totals: is the sum of the values for each retailer over all the billing periods entered using the 'Bill Data' form (fig 3).
• FiT is the retailer's feed in tariff in $/kWh.
• OTP is the retailer's On Time Payment discount in percentage.
• u is the OTP discount applies to usage only and us is the OTP discount applies to both usage and service.
• Save is the amount saved over the billing periods entered when comparing Solar with the No Solar values.
• Diff is the difference between the totals of the two retailers over all the billing periods entered where green shows the new retailer as having a better outcome than the current retailer.

Go to the app here.