Endeavour network new tariffs

Two new tariffs will be coming to Endeavour Energy’s network starting in July 2024. They’re all about better-managing the huge amount of daytime solar.

The Endeavour network provides the poles and wires for the 2.7 million people in Sydney’s Greater West, the Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands, the Illawarra, and the South Coast of NSW.

You may not see any changes for a while.

The Endeavour Energy network will start charging electricity retailers for new tariffs for residential and small business customers from 1 July 2024. However, each retailer will decide whether or not to pass the new tariffs on to their customers.

The two new tariffs are designed to ensure that customers within the Endeavour Energy network area share the benefits and costs of building, operating, and maintaining the network.

1. Solar sponge network tariff for everyone.

The network is launching a new time of use tariff for all customers.
Under this tariff, the Endeavour Energy network is free of charge for residential and small business customers to use the distribution network between 10am and 2pm every day of the week. This is first time the Endeavour has offer their network for free with the idea of reducing rate to encourage demand and “soak up” excess solar energy. They’d like to encourage retailers to pass on this cost-saving to all their customers. It’s a welcome change to reduce costs, particular as the networks have been increasingly responsible for rising prices.

2. Optional two-way tariff for solar.

Endeavour is also adding a two-way tariff to encourage customers with large solar systems to consume their self-generated electricity during the middle of the day (high solar generation) and export to the grid in the later afternoon at evening (peak demand). Up to 290,000 solar customers in the Endeavour Energy network could benefit from this tariff if offered by their retailer. These customers have the choice to opt-out at any time and return to the standard time-of-use tariff with no implication for solar.

The so-called ‘prosumer’ tariff (code N61) has an export charge of 1.75 cents/kWh that will apply when households exported more than 2,920 kWh per annum between 10am and 2pm everyday. In practical terms, this provides an average of 8kW solar export each day between 10am to 2pm before a charge would apply.

On the flip side, there’s a seasonal TOU solar export bonus applied to exports between 4pm to 8pm on business days. Exporting energy during Summer late afternoons get a bigger bonus.

11c/kWh bonus FiT in High season from 4pm-8pm in November – March
3.3c/kWh bonus FiT in Low season from 4pm-8pm in April – October

Endeavour Energy two-way tariff for solar (N61)

If you live or work in the neighbouring Ausgrid network – it’s a different story. All customers will be moved across to the 2-way solar tariff from July 2025, whether they like it or not. Again, it’s up to each retailer to decide whether they pass on the network charges. It’s a similar tariff structure with a token charge for excess exports offset with a small bonus to encourage exports after 4pm.

Why is the network adding new tariffs?

There is now a massive number of solar households in NSW exporting back into the grid. The problem is electricity networks were not designed for large amounts of energy flowing back into the network. This two-way flow of energy, with peaks in supply during the middle of the day, is overloading the network in many areas. This needs extra investment to support new infrastructure to cope with added supply coming from solar customers. So, the network argument for the two-way tariff is that customers with home solar systems and batteries using the network should bear some of this cost. Whether and when these changes affect customers’ bills is ultimately up to electricity retailers. They’ll decide whether to pass these tariffs onto customers. In the case of the solar sponge, the opportunity to share lower electricity costs with everyone seems like a good thing. For households with battery, the opt-in two-way tariff for solar could offer a nice little bonus. Already, innovative energy retailer Amber has advised that their customers are welcome to request a trial of the new tariff.