The financial case for home solar keeps getting better | Currency image: cogdogblog, Public Domain
In some very good news for Australian solar power system owners, AGL Energy has announced huge increases to its retailer solar feed-in tariffs.
The incentive increase ranges between 82% and 140%, depending on the state:
| State | Old rate (c/kWh) |
New rate (c/kWh) |
Increase (percent) |
| NSW | 6.1 | 11.1 | 82 |
| Queensland | 6.0 | 10.6 | 77 |
| South Australia | 6.8 | 16.3 | 140 |
| Victoria | 5.0 | 11.3 | 126 |
AGL notes the increase in Victoria is as required by the Essential Services Commission (ESC). In February this year, the ESC announced the minimum feed-in tariff for households and businesses in the state would be increased to 11.3c from the first of July.
The new rates across all four states take effect from July 1, so SolarQuotes’ feed in tariff comparison tool won’t show those rates until then.
AGL’s announcement will put pressure on other retailers to follow suit on feed in tariffs, otherwise they may risk an exodus in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia – but solar owners should always check the fine print of offers from electricity companies.
The news certainly helps soften the blow of electricity price increases recently announced by AGL (other others), and will no doubt have Australians still sitting on the fence about going solar giving more serious consideration to the prospect of installing solar panels.
“We estimate the increases in feed-in tariffs could be worth up to $3321 per year in extra savings for some customers, depending on which state they live in and the amount of solar energy they generate and export to the grid,” said General Manager Sales & Marketing, Sandra de Castro.
Ms. de Castro said the increases reflect significant rises in wholesale electricity market prices. As SQ blogger Ronald mentioned in May,
“Wholesale electricity prices have risen and so solar feed-in tariffs will also rise, because feed in tariffs are meant to represent the average wholesale cost of electricity during the day.”
If you’ve had a gutful of electricity price hikes and would like to harness the power of the sun to help control your energy costs, you can get solar quotes from three pre-vetted installers here.
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This is where you can find the new Ergon Tariffs in FNQ
https://www.ergon.com.au/…/residential/tariffs-and-prices
Any news for ACTEW AGL in Canberra?
Our AGL feed-in tariff is presently 8 c/kWh, so the increase on July 01 is not quite 33%. Pleasant surprise to see an increase though.
Living in SA, currently with AGL looking forward to seeing if we get the 16cent tariff. This will make the decision to adopt batteries more difficult.
Diamond are offering 12c in NSW Ausgrid and Endeavour area.