They are happy for Big Brother - or in this case, AusNet Services - to monitor their solar system, if it means helping to perfect a renewable mini-grid which could change how energy is used.

From September, the Boultons will be set up with solar panels, a battery and a computer system called “ubi”.

AusNet will monitor the power use of 14 homes in the Yackandandah Heights Estate trial and the computer system will decide when to share excess solar energy between them as needed.

“They’ll know all your data … ubi will actually turn it on and off itself,” Mr Boulton said.

Ubi could also turn on the air-conditioner before occupants were expected home.

“It’s a bit of a Jetsons type thing,” Mrs Boulton said.

“There’s a part of me that’s not too sure about that - I know they’ve got all the information on us and I know Big Brother knows everything, but I’d just like a little bit of it to be my decision.”

But ubi could also offer helpful advice like doing washing during the day when solar energy was at its peak.

Financial returns for sharing power are still to be determined, but could eventually lead to energy donations to schools or hospitals.

The Boultons have not paid an electricity bill in four years, since setting up their initial 16 solar panels.

“We’ve proven that in winter, even on a dull day, you still generate electricity and you generate enough to sustain you for that particular day and you know the next day the sun will come out to top it up,” Mrs Boulton said.

“We looked at it and we went ‘yes please, we want to be involved in this - it’s exciting and we want to stick it to the electricity companies’.”

Mr Boulton said their biggest issue was heating the house overnight, but storing solar energy with a battery would allow them to do so without having to use electricity from the grid.

“We understand that it’s very hard to get to (Totally Renewable Yackandandah’s goal of) 100 per cent, but if you don’t set a goal,” he said.

“One of the big things in my mind is, at the present moment we have one place in Victoria (Gippsland) for all our electricity.

“What this moves us to, if everybody gets into their solar, it reverses the process - energy from everywhere, so it can be supplied in small areas.”

The Boultons were the first to sign up to be part of Totally Renewable Yackandandah’s groundbreaking solar pilot program.

TRY volunteer Ben McGowan said Yackandandah Heights Estate was chosen for the pilot because residents believed the solar system would benefit the town’s community and economy.

“What we discovered was people were really excited about the idea of a community energy retailer for Yack,” he said.

“Most people saw the community electricity retailer as a new YCDCo. It could be another community owned business for Yack, which people were really excited by.”

The next step will be signing others in the town up to a solar systems, as the group works towards its goal of 100 per cent solar energy in Yackandandah by 2022.