Feed In Tarrif Vs Rebate

A Feed-In Tariff simply put is how much credit you will get on your electricity bill for the power you send back into the grid. 

The Rebate (or more correctly the STC solar incentive) is the amount you will save when you purchase a system for your property. 

Now we’ve cleared that up we can move on to explaining the details of the rebate itself. Currently, until mid 2017 you have the option of buying a solar system and qualifying for a government rebate, but there is a catch. The rebate is not a rebate! The “rebate” (or incentive) is actually a determined amount of STC’s (Small Trade Certificates) that will be given based on the area you live in as well and the actual dollar amount will be based on the market value for the certificates at the time you buy your system.

The savings you make with the incentive will depend on the value of the STC’s at the time, high value = bigger saving. 

Basically if there is a high demand for solar (lot’s of people buying) there is a smaller value on the STC’s and a smaller “rebate” (incentive). It’s similar to shares on the market, the value could  rapidly drop any time! 

Let’s just say you hold off until there is high demand for solar and everyone is buying at the time that you decide to purchase. This seems like a likely scenario as your friends and neighbours are going for solar so it seems like a good time to get on board, but you have missed the boat, you might get around half the savings that your neighbour received. Damn!

So maybe you’re wondering “why the demand would suddenly spike to cause such a sudden drop in STC value?” First think about why this article first took your interest and how you found yourself here. There is already a rapid rise in word of mouth and interest in installing solar from households that previously have put it off. A lot of that is due to the focus of solar battery systems in the media. Batteries can offer a solution to cover your entire day’s usage with your own power from the sun. This has attracted the 9-5 demographic as they can now truly make an impact on their consumption from the grid. This movement has brought with it everyone else that has been putting solar off as a home project for years now and are getting constant reminders from friends and family who are installing. My professional advice, “get in now!”

2. Solar Feed In Tariffs All Cleared Up

Solar power in the Australian economy is a little misunderstood for potential household buyers…

We have the resources to understand our current situation at all times, but the fact is they are hard to find when advertising and social media play such a big part in our daily intake of information. I would say the government could be doing more to inform us of the current situation with the renewable industry and why it is important. But seeing as how they seem to have a slackers attitude on the subject, why don’t we educate you guys on the subject instead. 😉

The truth about solar in Australia is that there is a developing market. The growing market of home solar producers are also becoming true users of solar power. While a lot of others, are assuming they already are… 

The problem arises from the misconception of how energy is produced and distributed to you.. The consumer! We don’t like to think of where a lot of our resources come from because frankly, the picture is not a pretty one. 

Let me break it to you, Gas comes from smashing the ground and drilling deep into our core resources to suck out a byproduct our planet buried before we even developed, Oil = burning up the old remnants of all the leaves that absorbed the chemicals preventing you and I from evolving and big-power electricity, well it’s a whole mixed bag of ugly things (including the things listed before). 

On the other hand is solar, the sun, It’s been around for a long time and we’re just beginning to harvest a fragment of its power. The misconception around home solar in Australia come from the lack of understanding of how we measure and distribute the electricity it produces.

The last decade was the peak of the homeowner becoming a small-scale electricity distributor. An awesome time for the solar industry to perfect the technology and a great stepping stone to where we are today. 

Here is how feed-in tariffs work. 

Your solar meter is used to measure the amount of electricity generated by your solar system, but the way it is set up will also determine the type of incentive you will get for sending the power you produce back to the grid. 

Grid-tied solar works in TWO ways. 

They are split up by two types of metering (measurement), each qualifying for different rates or Feed-In Tarrifs: Gross & Net 

Gross metering is the old method, where the bulk of the produced power will be sent back to the grid at a generous rate to your credit on your bill. This rate can be up to 66c for every kWh produced! That’s a big rate, but you don’t use that power at all. You save money by selling it back to the power company and getting credit on your power bill. Thanks to the big government subsidies and the buyback, you would still expect a pretty great payback, but the cost of electricity was a lot less than it currently is so in turn the actual savings were a fraction of what they would be getting each quarter these days. 

Net metering is where we are at today which means your system will generate power and you will actually use it! Any excess will be fed-back to the grid for a small incentive from your electricity retailer. This rate will be anywhere from 6.6c/kWh-11.2c/kWh depending on your electricity company. That’s not much, but based on the price of your system, the fact that your using it and the sky high electricity prices, you’re doing quite well if you get anything back!

If you’re living in the NT, you are still lucky to be getting these incentives, but down here in NSW those days are numbered. After 31 December 2016, those contracts will no longer be valid and anyone with a system under a Gross Feed-In Tarrif will need to pay for to have Net Metering set up and will go under whatever the feed in tariff the rest of us are on at the time. This means there will be a level playing field and all homeowners will be offered the same incentives from next year and hopefully some of the confusion will start to clear up.

3. You Haven’t Missed Out… Yet!

Time to Get Solar!! Already On Gross Metering? Perfect, Time to Upgrade!!

• You still qualify for the full STC Incentive & Prices are at an all time low!

2. Get access to the latest technology:

Batteries and Hybrid inverters are on the market!

Microinverters and AC systems are here!

3. Old system owners can upgrade and still qualify for STC incentive!

You can add separate solar system of up to 10kW and get the current Net FiT on their new solar system. You won’t lose your old FiT on your old solar system. Customers on 20c Gross or Net FIT Can expand their capacity up to 10kW and retain their 20c rate. 

Stop wasting time and get Solarhunters to find you the perfect system!