The spiral is a term that means electrical companies like Ergon Energy have to cover  costs by charging more for electricity because of the people who rely on solar panels and batteries. 

And electricity becomes even more expensive for the people who remain on the transmission line. 

McKinlay Shire is an example of a regional community turning to solar power to reduce  electricity costs. 

Julia Creek businesses and the McKinlay Shire Council is in the process of upgrading to solar energy. 

Mayor Belinda Murphy said the council paid $250,000 in electrical prices a year, and that was not counting the $30,000 increase in electricity that began this month.  

Most of the money could be saved and used to develop other community assets, she believed. 

“We could save $100,000 in the power bill, which we can put back into the community,” Cr Murphy said.

“That’s significant, we need to do that.” 

If solar energy was stored and ran during the day it could save 60 to 70 per cent in electricity.

In a town where the costs of living were increasing, the desire for solar energy was a “no brainer”. 

More money could be saved if the power generated during the day could be stored in a battery for use at night. 

To do that Julia Creek would have to be cut from Ergon’s electricity grid. 

Cr Murphy said Ergon required that any building cut from the grid could not return to it. 

The town did not have access to batteries to store the electricity.

Cutting off the grid before access to battery storage could mean no power supply on cloudy days or at night. 

Some cattle stations had access to batteries that could store electrical power, but this was expensive, Cr Murphy said. She did not foresee cheap batteries being available for another five to eight years.