“Household Electricity Use and Investment”

Professor Jeffrey Reimers FRSN FAA FRACI
Director, International Centre for Quantum and Molecular Structures, Department of Physics
Shanghai University, Shanghai, China
and
Honorary Associate
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
University of Technology Sydney

Date: Wednesday, 6 May 2026, 6.00–7.30 pm AEST
Entry: No charge
Zoom webinar: Link to follow
All are welcome

Business of the Meeting

The Agenda for the Ordinary General Meeting is now available on the Meetings page of the website.

Summary: Electricity production, transmission, use, and pricing in eastern states is very complex, with consumer reports indicating very poor community understanding of the basic features. In this presentation, a broad, holistic view is presented. The focus is on how users can save money and be environmentally friendly in their energy use, how to understand and optimise retailer plans and distributor tariffs, and how to optimise investment in household solar power, solar batteries, and electrical-vehicle technologies. Indeed, a strong connection is made between saving money and being environmentally friendly. A central aspect is understanding of the “spot price” and how that is used to stabilise the grid and hence provide the means by which energy production can be transformed from coal/gas to renewables, as well its role in setting consumer costs and investment returns. Bring an electricity bill to discuss.

Jeffrey Reimers Jeff Reimers studied organic spectroscopy under Ian Ross and Gad Fischer before doing a PhD with Bob Watts on the structure, thermodynamics, and spectroscopy of water and ice. He then studied semiclassical quantum mechanics in USA under Kent Wilson and Rick Heller, before returning to Australia to be an ARC Research Fellow from 1985 to 2010 at the University of Sydney and there as a professor until 2013. There he collaborated extensively with Noel Hush and Max Crossley on problems involving electron transfer, molecular electronics, porphyrin chemistry, self-assembly, electronic-structure theory, and photosynthesis. In 2014 he moved to a joint appointment at University of Technology Sydney and Shanghai University to set up a multi-disciplinary quantum research centre, himself focusing mostly on quantum chemistry, spectroscopy, nanophotonics, and molecular electronics. His work spans a wide range of applications, from solar energy conversion to electronic devices to the origins of consciousness. He has received the RACI Physical Chemistry Division Medal and the H.G. Smith Medal, the David Craig Medal of the Australian Academy of Science, and the 2025 Shanghai Gold Magnolia Medal; he is a Fellow of the RACI, the Royal Society of NSW, and the Australian Academy of Science.

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