Feed-in tariffs: everything you need to know

Your feed-in tariff is the rate you earn for energy your solar sends to the grid. It’s important to know what your rates are, as these may vary.

Why do you earn a feed-in tariff?

Feed-in tariffs are one of the Government’s financial incentives for homeowners to feed energy into the national grid.

By exporting energy to the grid, you are helping to stabilise the grid, even in peak usage periods.

Although the rates vary by state, the minimum rate is determined by the relevant Essential Services Commission (ESC) for your State or Territory.

The rates may change for your area every year, as these are revised to compensate customers for the energy their solar has exported to the grid.

Here are the minimum feed-in tariffs for each state/territory in Australia:

State	VIC	NSW	ACT	QLD	NT	WA	SA	TAS
Feed-in rate ($c/kWh)	9.9	6.9	0	6	25.95	7.1	0	8.5

Table above: Details minimum single-rate feed-in rates per state or territory in Australia

Although each state and territory have their own minimum feed-in tariff rate, your energy retailer can offer you a higher rate than the minimum.

Contact your energy retailer to find out what your feed-in rate will be when you install solar.

How do you receive your feed-in tariff?

Your feed-in tariff appears as a credit on your energy bill, like how an energy concession would appear, and comes off the total of your energy charges for that billing period.

When do you start receiving your feed-in credit?

After your solar is installed, your retailer will be sent all the paperwork which outlines the size of the system and installation details. Once this has been received by your retailer, an order for the distributor will then be created. This means that it is in their queue for processing your solar feed-in.