EnergyAustralia solar feed-in tariffs fall

EnergyAustralia feed-in tariffs fall
On January 27, EnergyAustralia’s solar feed-in tariffs will fall for solar customers in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia. This includes customers of the major electricity retailer on ‘fixed-rate’ plans. Rates in Victoria are unchanged while ACT customers will now be offered a solar feed-in tariff.
Here’s a rundown on the new FiTs.

January 2020 EnergyAustralia feed-in tariffs changes (incl GST)

StateNew Feed-in TariffPrevious Feed-in Tariff
Queensland11.5 cents per kWh16.1 cents per kWh
NSW10.5 cents per kWh12.5 cents per kWh
SA11.5 cents per kWh15.0 cents per kWh
Victoria12.0 cents per kWh12.0 cents per kWh
ACT10.5 cents per kWhNo published retailer feed-in tariff
The retailer began notifying customers about the change in the second week of January. It’s caused quite a stir, particularly in Queensland where the FIT has fallen almost 5 cents per kWh. In the two weeks since it was first announced, over ten thousand solar owners have visited WATTever.com.au to review competitors feed-in rates and compare solar plans.

Downward pressure on retailer feed-in tariffs

Unfortunately, feed-in tariffs are set to decline under the current situation. The underlying reason is that future electricity prices in the wholesale market are declining over the next three years. Falling prices are a result of large scale renewables pushing cheap energy into the grid, along with the strong uptake of small-scale rooftop solar. This abundant supply of solar energy puts downward pressure on electricity prices during the day. As a result, the gap between what it costs retailers to buy energy in the market and what solar owners have to come to expect – will increase. So you can expect solar feed-in tariffs to fall and/or the supply and usage prices offered on solar plans to increase to help offset the premium that retailers are paying solar owners over wholesale prices.

More changes to come

While EnergyAustralia may be the first to move,  we anticipate other retailers will begin to adjust their feed-in tariffs in 2020. Until then, why not choose a plan that maximises the value of the energy you generate.

Looking for a better deal?

You can check out if there are cheaper options available for your solar home now that EnergyAustralia’s new feed-in tariffs are officially published on their plans. To compare feed-in tariffs go here. To see the feed-in tariffs for all retailers in your location, you can view our solar feed-in tariff comparison page. Remember that the biggest feed-in tariff isn’t automatically the best deal. Our comparison values your solar export, plus usage and supply charges, to calculate the ranking of publicly-listed plans. To compare plans and find a better deal, go here. We recommend you have a bill (or even better a couple of recent bills) to hand, to give you the most accurate picture of costs based on your unique energy use. WATTever adds new plans to the comparison when officially published by retailers. The new EA plans will be available on WATTever from 28 January 2020.

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