Customers with solar panels which
export electricity to the grid may receive different payments for
the electricity exported:
- If a customer has previously been accepted as eligible under
the NSW Solar Bonus Scheme, the customer will receive Solar Bonus
Scheme payments and may also receive an additional payment from the
retailer. (From 1 July 2012 this additional payment may be
reduced if the NSW Government requires retailers to contribute to
the costs of the Solar Bonus Scheme.) The additional amount
the retailer may pay varies across retailers and offers and is
displayed in the 'tariff rates' column on the search results
page.
- Customers connecting solar panels to the grid after the closure
of the NSW Solar Bonus Scheme may receive a payment from the
retailer for electricity exported to the grid. The amount the
retailer pays varies across retailers and offers and is displayed
in the 'tariff rates' column on the search results page.
The NSW Solar Bonus
Scheme
Applications to the NSW Solar
Bonus Scheme closed on 28 April 2011. No new applications lodged
after that date are being considered under the Scheme.
Under the NSW Government's Solar Bonus Scheme (now closed to new
applicants), eligible small retail customers who export solar or
wind power (maximum system size of 10 kilowatts) to the grid could
receive a solar feed-in tariff.
The date a customer joined the Solar
Bonus Scheme affects the tariff paid under the Scheme for renewable
energy generated and exported to the national electricity grid.
- Customers who joined the Scheme on or before 27 October 2010
receive Solar Bonus scheme payments of 60 cents per kilowatt hour
for renewable energy generated and exported to the grid.
- Customers who joined the scheme between 28 October 2010 and 28
April 2011 receive Solar Bonus scheme payments of 20 cents per
kilowatt hour for renewable energy generated and exported to the
grid.
- Applications to the scheme closed on 28 April 2011.
Customers not eligible to
receive NSW Solar Bonus Scheme payments
Customers can still connect a renewable
energy generator to the grid, but are not eligible to receive the
Solar Bonus Scheme payments.
The Government asked IPART to recommend
a fair and reasonable tariff for electricity generated and exported
to the grid by small scale solar units. IPART has
recommended a subsidy free feed-in tariff for customers who are
not eligible for the Solar Bonus Scheme in a benchmark range for
2011-12 of 5.2c to 10.3c per kilowatt hour for electricity exported
to the grid.
Further information for customers with
solar PV units, including information useful for customers thinking
of installing solar panels, is available
here.