As per La Trobe University, “Two percent of Australians currently live off grid, which typically involves disconnecting – or no connecting at all if you’re building – from municipal water, sewerage, gas and electricity services”. A figure which is bound to surprise a plethora of Australian’s who may not have been exposed to rural and regional Australia.

Google Trends verifies as increase in search for the term “Off Grid” in Victoria from the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic (Feb 2021) to current above.

This brings a us to the question, why is there an “Off Grid Trend” in Australia.

Let’s get into the details of why, Australian’s of all ages are moving off grid:

• The Coronavirus Pandemic is constantly locking down metropolitan/densely populated areas, more Australian’s are looking to get away, and live a life which is self sufficient. Melbournian’s are currently in the midst of their fifth lockdown in the space of less than a year and a half which is creating significant angst, and frustration. Key reasons to leave the city and live a life off grid
• Suburban property prices are skyrocketing, in 2021, Australian housing values reached a record high, exceeding the previous peak recorded in 2017. Sydney and Melbourne have observed increases of 0.4% and Darwin a 2.3% which is significant. The infographic below further elucidates 2021/22 housing price forecasts going through the roof!

• High Grid Connection Costs in rural areas can be huge, I’ve heard of many cases where Australian’s are being quoted $50,000-$100,000 to connect to the grid on a property which doesn’t have a house on it yet, even more for three phase upgrades. Magnum Australia is a great example of this as they were quoted over $100,000 to upgrade their transformer to three phase. Whilst they could get an off grid solar system for a similar price without the bills (Plus they have a cool looking system check out the photo below!)

Energy Security is critical for many Australian families. The Gippsland/Melbourne floods of recent epitomised the benefits of off grid power, because users were able to keep their power on via battery storage and generator backup.

There are many more reasons Australian’s are going off grid and I’d love to hear your thoughts by either leaving a comment at the bottom of the blog post, or emailing matthewm@commodoreaustralia.com.au!