The cost of living has been biting into household budgets as inflation peaked at 7.8% earlier this year. It is falling, quarter 3 inflation reduced to 5.4%, but it is still putting financial pressure on many families and retired couples.

A contributing element is the cost of energy. A hot topic for quite some time but especially since July 1 when electricity prices increased about 5-10%.

Local businessman Mike Haydon has built a company, OG Solutions, to help people in Lismore and the Northern Rivers lower their electricity bills from the big providers like AGL, Alinta and Origin Energy. Some of whom have just recorded record profits.

Mike from The Off Grid Shop has been designing and installing Battery-based solar systems for over a decade. He says there is a better solution than the expensive upfront costs of solar and batteries which is in the $20,000 to $26,000 range.

"With all the hype in the media of prices going up, believe it or not, energy prices have gone down and energy companies have posted record profits. This is because solar electricity has pushed the prices to record lows so energy companies have made a small fortune during the sunny days."

"The price changes every 5 minutes depending on the demand. If everyone is using energy the price goes up and if everyone is at work or the beach the prices go down."

"In fact, in October, we had record days of energy being in the minuses which means if you are using a software like ours you would have been paid to use energy almost every day in October between the hours of 9am and 3pm."

"This is the reason big energy companies are posting record profits. They are getting paid using everyone else's solar and then on-selling it."

"In October, the average price was 5 cents per kw hour and the most expensive was 14 cents in May," said Mike, "I have seen examples where people and businesses were buying energy at 30 cents per kw or 45 if they weren't contracted."

Buying electricity at lower prices is one side of OG Solutions, selling electricity at higher prices is the other side.

OG Solutions can be described as an energy broker. For residential houses that have solar panels, OG Solutions will help you sell your excess energy to high-energy users during non-peak times (workday) so mostly to local businesses. During peak times, it will set a maximum per kilowatt (kw) per hour that will be lower than the maximum rate that big energy companies charge you.

"The big companies pay their clients about 6 cents per kw," Mike explained, "We can do a deal with local businesses to sell them electricity for 10 cents so the homeowner gets more money and the company pays less to run their business. Air conditioning is a big cost during the summer months at the cheapest time to buy energy."

Of course, Mike and OG Solutions need an electricity retailer with the capability of running its model. Local Volts is the retailer Mike is working with.

"Local Volts is not a household name that many people will know. I have been using them for just under 2 years now. They provide reliable energy and have a system that, combined with our software, will save homeowners and businesses money whether they have solar panels or not."

"We are working for the customer and not the retailers. So, working with a little guy in the energy space allows us to achieve our goals as well as keep the money in the Northern Rivers. Local homes will be selling energy to local businesses."

Mike Haydon is running free webinars every Wednesday for homeowners on the residential energy market and one for businesses looking to lower their energy bill. You can find out more about OG Solutions and how it works, go to www.ogsolutions.com.au to register.

"It is hard to believe that you can get paid to use energy in today's market with energy companies posting record profits, Mike said, " And beware when they start to try and lock you in for contracts now that energy prices are low."

"The energy markets in Australia are complicated and bills are even more complicated. We can make the process simple and save people money. We want to help people bring down their energy bills."