When the calendar turned to October, EnergyAustralia cut its solar feed-in tariffs across the board – and there was quite a discount.
EnergyAustralia serves residential solar customers in Victoria, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Queensland; and no one escaped the scissors. Here’s what happened to feed-in tariffs (FiT):
- Queensland – reduced from 6.6c/kWh to 4.6c/kWh
- New South Wales – reduced from 7.6c/kWh to 5.0c/kWh
- ACT – reduced from 7.6 c/kWh to 5.0 c/kWh
- South Australia – reduced from 8.5cc/kWh to 4.5cc/kWh
For Victoria the flat rate on 30 September was 5.4c/kWh and the time of use feed-in tariffs were:
- Peak value (4:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. every day) 11.7 c/kWh
- Shoulder – (9pm – 10am; 2pm – 4pm every day) 6.1c/kWh
- Off-peak – (10am-2pm daily) – 4.3c/kWh
And since yesterday the uniform tariff has been reduced to 3.3 c/kWh and the new ToU FiT tariffs are:
- Peak value: 8.4 c/kWh
- Shoulder: 4.1 c/kWh
- Off-peak: 2.1 c/kWh
What about EA’s Solar Max plans?
EnergyAustralia also offers “Solar Max” plans, which offer higher tariffs than their standard feed-in tariff on the Flexi plan. However, this only applies to the first 12 kWh (previously 15 kWh) of average solar energy exports per day in a billing period, after which the standard feed-in tariff applies to the rest of the exports.
In my corner of South Australia the Solar Max tariff at the time of writing was 10 cents/kWh (previously 12 cents/kWh), but in my case if I choose this plan I’m forgoing an 18% discount on the overall energy bill.
Here you can compare EA plans and see if Solar Max is available to you and whether it might be worth it in your circumstances.
… and in this sense:
The easy way to compare electricity retailers
Given the changes, EnergyAustralia customers may want to consider comparing electricity tariffs across retailers to see if they still have the best deal for their circumstances or if it’s time to switch. Note that it will take a day or two for the SolarQuotes comparison tool to provide the latest rates.
Also keep in mind that the best electricity tariff for solar owners offers a balance of (relatively speaking) high feed-in tariffs, low usage tariffs and low daily fees. Solar-only owners are usually better off with fixed tariffs, while the most suitable tariff for solar and battery owners is often a time-of-use tariff, which offers lower rates outside of peak and off-peak seasons.
Are you thinking about a home battery?
News like this tends to get solar households thinking about installing a home battery system. Especially if they are not able to use the devices at different times as they would like to maximize their own consumption and use a significant amount of electricity from the grid in the evenings.
A home battery allows you to store the valuable energy you would otherwise have paid a pittance for when exporting, and use that power overnight (or whenever it is needed) – saving you some or all of your grid costs over that period.
But a battery is quite an investment and one that shouldn’t be rushed. Find out everything you need to know about home energy storage – prices, general payback information and brands – in this home battery guide.
To get a fairly accurate estimate of the savings and easy payback you can expect from a battery in your circumstances, try the SolarQuotes Battery Calculator, designed specifically for solar power system owners. Enter your electricity tariff and the battery you want to buy and upload your smart meter data – the calculator provides detailed figures based on your actual 12-month consumption.
If you can’t get your smart meter data (or don’t want to bother), try SQ’s original solar and battery calculator to get an idea of savings and payback – but it won’t be as accurate .
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