Solar Feed in Tariffs

Solar energy doesn’t just reduce your electricity bills and help the planet; it can also make you money, up to 60c per kilowatt hour at present without you having to do anything.

The Australia Federal Government is introducing a Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme in 2009 which will no doubt contain many benefits for those who choose to use renewable energy sources.

Following in the footsteps of over 40 other countries around the world, the Australian Government will probably introduce a nationwide scheme to buy back your excess solar electricity and pay you for it.

However, you don’t have to wait for that to come into action, in many States and Territories throughout Australia the “Solar Feed-in Tariffs” are already in place and working. Find out from your local energy company if your State or Territory is already covered and which tariff they offer.

The scheme works in two different ways:

One scheme pays you for every kilowatt hour produced by your solar energy system, even the electricity you produce that you use yourself. This is called a Gross feed-in Tariff.

The second scheme, called a Net Feed-in Tariff, pays you for every kilowatt hour fed back into the main electricity grid. This is just excess electricity that you don’t use.

Neither system requires you to do anything as your system is set up to work automatically and your Energy Company is obliged to buy back your excess solar energy at a rate equal or superior to the market price.