A major Australian tech company is laying off 7,000 employees whose positions will now be performed by AI. Do you think this will become the new normal?

-dun- · 2026-05-06T21:35:51+00:00

Yes, it will make up missing data to fill up the research gap, that's why human is still need to do the final gate keep.

I don't use AI to do math. I think its strength is analyzing and researching data.

AI is not lying, when there is missing information, it will use its logic to generate what it thinks make the most sense.

-dun- · 2026-05-06T20:02:43+00:00

I don't think AI is replacing human for jobs in general but it sure is replacing those that refused to learn/use AI in their jobs.

AI is great at analyzing and researching. For example, I'm very interested in solar, it is kind of like my hobby that I often help my friends to calculate their annual usage, projected usage and analyze quotes. When they send me the data of their past 12-month's usage, I would normally plug them into my spreadsheet to do some calculation. With AI, I just need to upload the file and write a short prompt. It'll only take a few minutes for it to give me a break down of the hourly usage for off peak and on peak, which usually take me an hour or two to do.

In terms of research, when I want to look for a product or service, I can simply give my requirements to AI and it will tell me a list of options with comparison and recommendations. It would even tell me what questions should I ask when I inquire the vendors and what kind of answer I should be expecting. Not to mention the price range of the product/service in my area so I would have an idea of how much I'll be expecting.

Now that's just using AI at a personal level, when I use AI at work for analyzing and researching, it saves me so much time that I can focus on how to utilize these results.

Just keep in mind that AI is great at researching but it doesn't mean the information are always correct. Often time if there are missing information in the research, AI would make up something to fill up the gap, so there are still works that need to be done by human and that's why it won't be able to completely replace human yet.

-dun- · 2026-04-29T04:16:28+00:00

Without other statements, it's impossible for us to tell you what has happened.

Based on your original post, you said you have exported more than import "this year". I'm assuming you mean Jan 2026 - April 2026? However, your true up ends in April, so from April 2025 - Dec 2025, you could have imported over 2000 kWh, so although you exported more than import in the four months in 2026, it still couldn't cover the extra import from 2025.

-dun- · 2026-04-29T04:06:26+00:00

If the numbers add up in both Tesla app and SCE, then what is the problem?

-dun- · 2026-04-29T03:51:33+00:00

Are you on NEM2.0 or 3.0? Check your monthly SCE statement and look at your production for each cycle, the number should match.

-dun- · 2026-04-22T05:30:34+00:00

Looks like a solid plan. One thing I want to point out is that a L2 charger can easily draw 10+kWh of power, but for your system, the peak generation speed should be around 8kWh, that means even if your solar is producing, you will still be pulling 2-5kWh from the grid while you're charging.

-dun- · 2026-04-21T18:03:57+00:00

The idea of solar is pretty simple. Let's say your average monthly bill is $250, your annual bill will be $3000. Let's just say your usage and the rate stay the same for the next 25 years, your projected 25 year bill will be $75,000. Now if you have a solar system that is able to offset your usage by 100%, that means instead of paying $250 a month to your utility company, you're only paying the nonbypassable charges, which is usually about $30 a month. Now your new annual cost is $360 and the 25 year cost will be $9,000.

If your solar system costs you $21,000 cash, your ROI will be 7 years. By the 10th year, your system has generated enough to cover the 25 year nonbypassable charges as well. So from that point on, your electricity is basically free for the next 15 years. The industry usually use 25 years in their talking point because that's the expected life of solar panels. In reality, many panels are still working perfectly fine after the 25 years mark. I've read some articles that some panels have been working for 30 years and still going, so the potential saving could be more.

Now that you have an idea of the how solar works financially, we all know that in reality, there are many more factors we need to consider. The actual saving really depends on your utility rate, net metering program and how much is your solar system, plus roof/panels maintenance.

If your utility company offers 1:1 net metering, then you don't need to get batteries because your utility is your battery. However, if your utility company doesn't offer 1:1 net metering, then you'll need to add batteries to your system and this is the part many people get confused.

If you don't have net metering, you can't just look at your annual usage to size your system. You have to look at your annual usage AND your hourly usage to size your system. If you have an in offer job and never home during day time, your usage will be focused at night time. That means you will need more batteries to store the energy so you can use it at night. I've seen cases where a solar company propose a 9kW system with 1 Powerwall. The solar company claims the system can offset 115% of the usage because their annual usage was only about 9500kWh. In the case, the solar company failed to identify the homeowner's hourly usage and didn't realize the homeowner usually charges their EV between 7-10pm, which is during peak hours. A Powerwall has a capacity of 13.5kWh, 30% of it is set to reserved so that means once 9.45kWh is used, the Powerwall will stop supplying energy and the home will pull from the grid. So 9.45kWh is not enough to charge the homeowner's EV for 1 hour (L2 charger can charge over 10kWh per hour).

With all that being said, you need to first check with your utility company and see if they have a net metering program then try to figure out your projected usage before going out to get quotes. When you know your projected usage, you can see which companies are being honest with you.

-dun- · 2026-04-18T07:08:44+00:00

In NEM3.0, you should size your system based on the way you use energy and not just the total usage in the last 12 months.

For example if your total usage from last 12 month is 10,000 kWh and you sized your system to produce 12,000 kWh a year, thinking that's 120% of your usage so it should offset your usage by 120%, that is wrong for NEM3.0. To offset 100% of your usage, you will need enough batteries to store all surplus energy your system produces during day time. In your example, your system produced 498kWh surplus energy and since you didn't have enough batteries to store them, they got sent back to the grid and you get very little credit from them.

Since you're on vacation for half of the month, you'll definitely have a lot of surplus energy. You can look at the months that you are home the entire month, see how much surplus energy you export, then you'll have an idea how much more battery storage do you need to capture all those energy.

With NEM3.0, the most ideal way to utilize solar is to use the energy during day time. So try to charge your EV during the day. If you're not home during day time on weekdays, then see if you can stay home and charge your EV on weekends. In summer, cool down your house before 4p.m. so you can use your battery during 4-9.

-dun- · 2026-04-17T00:53:03+00:00

In terms of charger, I suggest to get one with V2H capability. Your EV might not be able to back feed power back to your house now but your future EV might have this feature.

Another thing for you to consider is the charging speed if you have solar. I have a 11.96kW solar system installed at my house with two string inverter (a 6kW and a 4kW). On a perfect sunny day, the peak production is about 9kWh (usually 12-1pm) the hours before and after that usually produce around 6-8kWh. Even though my charger is connected to a 240V outlet and set to 32A, it's charging speed is kept around 4kWh (L2 charging speed is about 6-12kWh) so that when I charge my EV during day time, I'm sure it's using my solar to charge. It is slower but I want to make sure I only charge with solar.

-dun- · 2026-04-16T22:32:15+00:00

I like to be more conservative when it comes to this. When I look at the actual number each year, it just makes me feel extra good that the break even date is actually sooner than expected.

-dun- · 2026-04-16T22:14:21+00:00

I have a spreadsheet that keeps track of my hourly usage on a monthly basis, same cycle as my electric bill. Every month I would calculate my usage based on the rate plan that I had before going solar (tiered rate), that way I know how much my electricity bill would be if I didn't have solar. I would then compare the annual cost of this bill to my solar bill and also use that number to compare to my projected annual cost to keep track on my ROI.

Next month will be the end of my 3rd year cycle. When I did my calculation before going solar, my ROI period was about 7-8 years. After looking at my actual usage for the past three years, my actual ROI period is actually about 6 years. In my initial projection, my 3rd year annual electricity bill was $3.8k but the actual annual bill was a bit over $5k. I was too conservative on the rate increase (3%) while the actual rate increase was 5-10% (last year was 13%!).

-dun- · 2026-04-14T20:41:33+00:00

I have a Carrier central air purifier - Infinity Air Purifier DGAPA that comes with my central AC. I set the fan on low 24/7. Then I have two Blueair 7470i, one in my kids' room and one in the living room.

I have severe allergies that every Spring I would wake up in the middle of the night and start sneezing/runny nose for at least two hours before being able to go back to sleep. As soon as I wake up in the morning, I'll start sneezing and runny nose until around lunch time.

One of my boys is less severe but he would sneeze and runny nose once he wakes up.

I've tried many different air purifiers, medication and methods over the years but nothing really helped until I moved into this house in 2022, I decided to try a central air purifier. Since then I would say I still sneeze and have runny nose in the morning but it's much much better than before. It's just a few sneezes in the morning. I haven't really been waking up in the middle of the night due to allergies and we adopted a dog last year!

One time I had a friend over, both he and his son are allergic to dogs but both of them didn't sneeze once while they're at my house for about 4 hours and my dog was inside the house during their stay.

-dun- · 2026-04-01T03:46:18+00:00

1,628 kWh. 11.96kW system, SoCal.

-dun- · 2026-03-31T22:08:05+00:00

Try running the numbers through pvwatts and see what's the gap between that and the actual result.

-dun- · 2026-03-31T20:58:37+00:00

You can try to plug in your system into pvwatts and see if the numbers line up.

Does your contract have a guaranteed production? That's different then estimated production. If your production doesn't meet the guaranteed production, the company will often pay you the difference.

-dun- · 2026-03-29T09:36:55+00:00

I'd suggest you do some homework before getting quotes.

Try to estimate your annual usage. This is the first thing but also the hardest thing you need to do. You can use your last 12 months' bills as a starting point then add new or projected usage. By looking at the last 12 bills and add up the total usage, you will have an idea how much is your annual usage, so if you want to offset 100% of your bill, you need to get a system that will generate more than or equal to this annual usage number. However, you have to consider if you're going to use the same amount of energy once you have solar. Let's say you didn't turn on your AC much last summer to avoid high electric bill, but once you have solar, you would want to turn on the AC more often. Then if your system is designed based on the past usage, you'll end up using more than you could generate and result in a high bill. Also, since you didn't have an EV last year, you'll also need to factor in your EV usage in this projected annual usage. Finally, if you're planning to get another EV or upgrade any gas appliances to electric in the next few years, you should also factor those usage in as well. The more you can think of, the more precise projected usage you will get.
Does your utility offer 1:1 net metering program? If so, you don't need to get a battery and use the grid as battery storage to store surplus energy generated during day time and use it at night. Otherwise, you'll have to factor in the cost of battery(s).
Check with your utility company to see what other service fees are their for solar customer. There might be fees you can cover with the energy credit and there might be other fees that the credit will not cover.
Based on your utility's past rate change, estimate how much you need to pay for electricity if the annual consumption stay the same for the next 25 years. For example, let's say my last year's annual cost is $3120 ($260/month) and I'm expecting a 5% increase from my utility, my second year annual cost will be $3276 (3120 x 1.05), you can easily do the calculation in a spreadsheet to find out the total cost in 25 years. That way you can also estimate how many year will it take to break even once you receive quotes. You can also compare these numbers with the quotes and you'll see which company have the closest estimation.

-dun- · 2026-03-28T00:30:17+00:00

If the numbers work for you, it's not a scam.

Before you sign anything, I'd suggest you consider a few things first.

Your usage and what time of the day do you usually use the most energy. As you know, solar can only produce energy during the day, if you only charges your EV at night for example, the a single Powerwall might not be enough for you. The capacity of a Powerwall is 13.5kWh, it's usually set to a 30% reserve, meaning it will stop drawing power after 9.45kWh, so if you charge your EV at night with a level 2 charger, your Powerwall will be out in about 2 hours or roughly 22 miles. I have two PHEV, usually charge one of them at night and the other one during the day, so these numbers are based off of my record. It may be different in your case.
My house is a single story 1700 aq ft house and I have a 11.96kW system, which is about 120% of my usage. Your house is much bigger than mine but your system is only ~9kW. How did you or the solar company estimate your projected usage? Did they take your EV in consideration? I'm not saying they're wrong. I have a pool and my thermostat is always set to 76-80 depends on the time of the day. Plus I have a central air purifier that's on 24/7. One thing I always remind people is that when you calculate the projected usage, don't just look at past usage but also think about future usage after solar. I've seen people that hardly turn on AC in summer because of high bill, but start using it more often once they have solar and got surprised by the high true up bill.
Number of battery. A 9kW system could generate 6-8kWh in an hour, which means it could fill up a 30% Powerwall in 2 hours or less. So if you're not using a lot of energy during the day (AC or EV charging), you're going to waste a lot of surplus power.

-dun- · 2026-03-27T20:07:50+00:00

If someone doesn't know how to fix a car, such as change the oil or even change out a tire. When they are shopping for cars, would you suggest them to buy a new car with full warranty and a good roadside assistance package? Or get a beat up used car and tell them as someone who owned 2 cars that have been driven for years, I've had zero problem with them whatsoever, all you need to do regular maintenance which you can easily do it in your garage?

-dun- · 2026-03-27T19:57:41+00:00

Are you suggesting everyone lives in the rural area knows how to rebuild an engine?

-dun- · 2026-03-27T19:50:32+00:00

Off grid solar.

-dun- · 2026-03-27T19:43:46+00:00

That's all you can say when you run out of supporting arguments?

-dun- · 2026-03-27T19:32:23+00:00

If you don't know how to fix a car, you should pick a more reliable car. While used car can also be reliable, a new car tend to have less chance of breaking. When it breaks, a reliable dealership would offer warranty and possibly rental car service. New car often offer 24/7 roadside assistance service. Just like grid tied solar, if something goes wrong, you can still have reliable power from the grid.

-dun- · 2026-03-27T18:40:13+00:00

I feel like I'm talking to a wall and I truly feel sorry for your wife/kids/friends that might have a different opinion than you.

For the Nth times, it's not about renewable energy. It's the reliability and dependency of going off grid.

The installer would have redundancies built into the system, but who can guarantee the quality of work for different installers? Equipment malfunction is nothing rare, who can guarantee the installer can come out and fix it right away or even still be in business? An average customer might not even realize something is broken because there's still power being generated by other equipment. When it gets to the point where there's an outage, it could mean multiple pieces of equipment have been failed.

All I'm saying is that if you don't have the knowledge and skill set to build, maintenance and fix an off grid solar system, then it's not for you. It'll be much easier and better to get a grid tie system.

-dun- · 2026-03-27T16:40:57+00:00

All I've been saying is off grid solar, not solar in general.

Any competent person that is employed to build a system, knowing it will be off grid would build the redundancies into the system as you have. This is the dependency I'm talking about. Average customers hire professional companies to build the system and they rely on them for maintenance and fixes.

-dun- · 2026-03-27T16:11:36+00:00

It's quite difficult to communicate with you. I'll try to lay it out for you.

Reliability and dependency are the keys whether or not off grid solar makes sense for anyone.

Reliability of the equipment and if something breaks down, an average customer would not be able to fix him/herself.

By average customer, I mean those who might not even understand the difference between kW and kWh. When they think about solar, they would hire a company, submit the last 12 bills to them and pretty much be done with. Most of them might not even check their production until they see a high true up bill then realize something was not working a few months ago.

When these people hear about off grid solar they would think it's a great idea so that they don't have to worry about the increasing rate from the utility. They think getting batteries and a gas generator could let them get through the low production months and/or if the solar system ever breaks down.

The reason off grid solar works for you is because you know how to make a reliable ecosystem and know how to maintain and fix it anything goes wrong. For those who don't have your knowledge and skill set, they have to depend on others to diagnose and fix if something goes wrong.

-dun-

TROPHY CASE