S3E16 - Nicole Stegmann | Energy Matters

Pat & Loz are back in the studio — this time at the new Six Star Plus office in Dandenong South — and they're joined by Nicole Stegmann from Energy Matters. Nicole's got one of the more colourful backstories we've had on the show — from working at Foodstar (yes, the all-you-can-eat restaurant), teaching English in Japan, fielding conspiracy theory voicemails for the Department of Climate Change, to now running pretty much everything at Energy Matters — video, photography, blogs, social media, and the website (all 70,000 pages of it). We get into some good topics: the "interest-free solar" conversation and why it's not always what it seems, Nicole's experience putting solar and a battery on a rental property (and what happened two days after the battery went in), and where she thinks the industry is heading — spoiler, she's got her eye on heat pumps. Also in this episode — AusNet backstop update (genuinely good news for once), the new dedicated installer line going live, the Ausgrid/CCEW portal integration in NSW, the upcoming NSW rebate reboot under PDRS, and a reminder to look after yourself heading into what's shaping up to be a hectic back half of the year. A loose, fun episode with plenty of tangents — but plenty of substance too. Catch us at an Installer Night:     •    Gold Coast – 21 July (https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/gold-coast-installer-night-tickets-1989799349418)     •    Brisbane – 22 July (https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/brisbane-installer-night-tickets-1989800024437)     •    Western Sydney – 4 August (https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/western-sydney-installer-night-tickets-1990093188298)     •    Southern Sydney – 5 August (https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/southern-sydney-installer-night-tickets-1990094178259)