{"id":51676,"date":"2021-07-12T12:29:25","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T01:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=51676"},"modified":"2021-07-14T16:55:27","modified_gmt":"2021-07-14T06:25:27","slug":"sa-tou-tariff-solar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t Panic:  SA Homes Can Remain On Flat Tariff When Getting Solar"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<div id=\"attachment_51992\" style=\"width: 1210px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51992\" class=\"wp-image-51992 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sapn-meter.jpg\" alt=\"South Australia solar power - electricity tariffs\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sapn-meter.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sapn-meter-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sapn-meter-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sapn-meter-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-51992\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SA homes are not required to have a time-of-use retail electricity tariff when getting solar<\/p><\/div>\r\n<p>Last week I heard from a South Australian concerned they&#8217;d be forced onto a time-of-use tariff after installing solar panels.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>Since this was at the start of the new financial year, my initial response was, &#8220;Oh god!\u00a0 What are the electricity retailers doing now?&#8221;<\/p>\r\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\r\n<p><em><strong>Update July 13th 2021: <\/strong><\/em><em>I have been contacted by the SA Department for Energy and Mining (DEM) <\/em><em>and my understanding of what I was told is electricity retailers may soon shift all homes with smart meters &#8212; including homes that get solar installed &#8212; onto time-of-use tariffs.\u00a0 At the momen &#8212; as this article describes &#8212; it is possible to find electricity retailers that promise they will allow households to remain on a flat tariff when they have solar installed, but apparently this may change.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>Fortunately, retailers are not shaking things up for the new financial year as far as I can tell.\u00a0 The situation has not changed and South Australian households are not being forced onto a time-of-use tariff when they get solar. They can remain on a flat tariff if they wish.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>I contacted the three largest electricity retailers in Australia &#8212; Origin, AGL, and Energy Australia &#8212; and, while Origin hasn&#8217;t got back to me yet, both AGL and Energy Australia say they&#8217;ll allow SA households to remain on a flat tariff when after installing solar power systems.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>This is good news for two reasons:\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n<li>\u00a0Solar households are often better off with a flat tariff than a time-of-use tariff.<\/li>\r\n<li>\u00a0Electricity retailers shouldn&#8217;t make life harder for Australian families without good reason.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p>For a quick rundown of&#8230;<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>\u00a0What these tariffs are<\/li>\r\n<li>\u00a0Where some of the confusion comes from, and&#8230;<\/li>\r\n<li>\u00a0How to avoid meter change over limbo<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>&#8230;read on.<\/p>\r\n<h2>Flat Tariff Vs. Time-Of-Use<\/h2>\r\n<p>A flat tariff is very simple.\u00a0 A flat amount is charged for each kilowatt-hour of grid electricity consumed regardless of what time of day it&#8217;s used.\u00a0 Our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/energy\/\">Electricity Retailer Comparison page<\/a> can be used to find flat tariff rates.\u00a0 At the moment in South Australia, some retailers charge less than 30 cents per kilowatt-hour.<\/p>\r\n<p>Time-of-use tariffs are more complex and require a smart meter.\u00a0 The charge per kilowatt-hour varies according to when the electricity is consumed. For example, in South Australia, there are seasonal tariffs charging more in summer and ones where the charge depends on the time of day.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>If you&#8217;d like to know details of these plans so you can decide if they&#8217;re suitable for you, that&#8217;s unfortunate.\u00a0 Neither retailers nor the government <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energymadeeasy.gov.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Energy Made Easy site<\/a> clearly present information households require to make an informed decision.\u00a0 If I didn&#8217;t have complete faith in the ethical standards of electricity retailers, I&#8217;d say it was as if they don&#8217;t want people choosing the best plan for themselves.<br \/><br \/>I might shake the idiot tree later and see if any useful information on SA time-of-use tariff plans falls out, but for now, you&#8217;re on your own. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n<h2>Distributor Tariffs Are Not Retailer Tariffs<\/h2>\r\n<p>Some people think new solar owners will be forced onto a time-of-use tariff because of the tariff the state&#8217;s electricity distributor &#8212; South Australia Power Networks (SAPN) &#8212; charges electricity retailers.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<div id=\"attachment_51953\" style=\"width: 605px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51953\" class=\"wp-image-51953 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/fyi_sapn.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"595\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/fyi_sapn.png 595w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/fyi_sapn-300x144.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 595px) 100vw, 595px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-51953\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">South Australia&#8217;s electricity distributor &#8212; the Distributed Network Service Supplier &#8212; is South Australia Power Networks or SAPN for short.<\/p><\/div>\r\n<p>The distributor tariff covers the cost of taking energy from long-distance transmission lines and rooftops, and using local <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stobie_pole\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stobie poles<\/a> and power lines to get it to homes and businesses.\u00a0 When a household gets solar panels and has a smart meter installed, SAPN automatically changes the flat distribution tariff they were charging the retailer for that property to a time-of-use distribution tariff.\u00a0 But this does not mean the retailer has to charge the household a time-of-use tariff.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>SAPN&#8217;s tariff is just one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-electricity-bill-breakdown\/\">component of electricity bills<\/a> and it is up to retailers to decide what kind of plans they will offer to cover the total amount of money they&#8217;re permitted to extract.\u00a0 They can offer a time-of-use tariff but aren&#8217;t required to.\u00a0 They are capable of coping with a little variability.\u00a0 It&#8217;s like how petrol prices vary daily, but the pizza place doesn&#8217;t have to adjust what they charge to deliver each day.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>In addition to being free to offer different types of tariffs, if a household gets solar installed and wants to remain on their original flat tariff, then their electricity retailer can ask SAPN to change the distributor tariff back to a flat tariff.\u00a0 Because of this, electricity retailers don&#8217;t have a strong incentive to force time-of-use tariffs onto people.\u00a0 Apart from, of course, any pleasure they may derive from making electricity plans more complex.<\/p>\r\n<h2>Electricity Retailers Say SA Homes Can Remain On Flat Tariff<\/h2>\r\n<p>I contacted Australia&#8217;s three largest electricity retailers. Both AGL and Energy Australia have told me SA households can stay on a flat tariff when they get solar systems installed if that&#8217;s what they want.\u00a0 (Origin sent me an email saying they need to know my suburb or postcode before they can answer my query, which is like me saying I need to know your star sign before I can guess your weight.)<\/p>\r\n<p>Electricity retailers may push time-of-use tariffs &#8212; Energy Australia encouraged me to get one even though I was just asking for information.\u00a0 It is possible your particular retailer won&#8217;t offer to let you keep your flat tariff when you get solar panels.\u00a0 If you&#8217;re not okay with that, you can tell them you&#8217;ll go to a different retailer.\u00a0 If that doesn&#8217;t get them to change their tune, dump them.\u00a0 Switching electricity retailers is not difficult to do.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<h2>Don&#8217;t Get Caught In Meter Changeover Limbo<\/h2>\r\n<p>If you want to remain on a flat tariff, it&#8217;s best to check your retailer will allow it without problem as soon as you decide to buy a solar power system.\u00a0 If you change retailers after your solar system is installed but before your old electricity meter is replaced, you can be caught in meter change limbo.\u00a0 It can cause the installation of your new smart meter to be delayed by weeks or even months.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>In that time you&#8217;ll be unable to use your newly installed solar system because you won&#8217;t have the appropriate electricity meter. So I recommend waiting until your solar system is up and running with your new or newly reconfigured meter before defecting.<\/p>\r\n<div id=\"attachment_51966\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51966\" class=\"size-full wp-image-51966\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/a_low_limbo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"296\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/a_low_limbo.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/a_low_limbo-300x148.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-51966\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Not saying electricity retailers need to bend over backwards to please us, but a little flexibility is appreciated.<\/p><\/div>\r\n<h2><em>SA Government Says Time-Of-Tariffs May Be Required<\/em><\/h2>\r\n<p><em><strong>Update July 13th 2021:\u00a0 <\/strong>As I mentioned in the update at the top of the article, the SA Government has informed me all homes with smart meters may be be required to go onto a time-of-use tariff.\u00a0 Hopefully, some retailers will continue to offer plans with flat tariffs to homes with smart meters in the future &#8212; but this may not happen.\u00a0 <br \/><\/em><\/p>\r\n<p><em>The South Australian Government&#8217;s Department of Energy and Mining has a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energymining.sa.gov.au\/energy_and_technical_regulation\/energy_resources_and_supply\/south_australias_energy_supply_and_market\/time_of_use_tariffs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">page on time-of-use tariffs<\/a>.\u00a0 Here is a screenshot from that page on the transition to time-of-use tariffs:<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-52035\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/tou_transition.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1010\" height=\"385\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/tou_transition.png 1010w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/tou_transition-300x114.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/tou_transition-768x293.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1010px) 100vw, 1010px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p><em>While the final sentence says it&#8217;s up to electricity retailers whether or not they continue to offer time-of-use tariffs, there is unfortunately no guarantee retailers in South Australia will offer flat tariffs to households with smart meters in the future.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week I heard from a South Australian concerned they&#8217;d be forced onto a time-of-use tariff after installing solar panels.\u00a0 Since this was at the start of the new financial year, my initial response was, &#8220;Oh god!\u00a0 What are the electricity retailers doing now?&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":51992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[636],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-electricity-prices","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SA Homes Can Remain On Flat Electricity Tariff When Getting Solar<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite what you may have heard, South Australians are not being forced onto a time-of-use tariff when they get solar panels installed.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don&#039;t Panic: SA Homes Can Remain On Flat Tariff When Getting Solar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite what you may have heard, South Australians are not being forced onto a time-of-use tariff when they get solar panels installed.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SolarQuotes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-12T01:59:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-14T06:25:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sapn-meter.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ronald Brakels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@BrakelsRonald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ronald Brakels\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0ce1779b3f5cb67cb4f146732af2fc7\"},\"headline\":\"Don&#8217;t Panic: SA Homes Can Remain On Flat Tariff When Getting Solar\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-12T01:59:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-14T06:25:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/\"},\"wordCount\":1283,\"commentCount\":23,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sapn-meter.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Electricity Prices\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/\",\"name\":\"SA Homes Can Remain On Flat Electricity Tariff When Getting Solar\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sapn-meter.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-12T01:59:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-14T06:25:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"Despite what you may have heard, South Australians are not being forced onto a time-of-use tariff when they get solar panels installed.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sapn-meter.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sapn-meter.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628,\"caption\":\"SA Homes Not Required To Have Time-Of-Use Tariff When Getting Solar\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Electricity Prices\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/electricity-prices\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Don&#8217;t Panic: SA Homes Can Remain On Flat Tariff When Getting Solar\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"SolarQuotes Blog\",\"description\":\"An independent reckoning of the Aussie solar scene\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"SolarQuotes\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png\",\"width\":592,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"SolarQuotes\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/solar_quotes\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/solarquotes\/\",\"https:\/\/au.linkedin.com\/company\/solarquotes\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SolarQuotesAustralia\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0ce1779b3f5cb67cb4f146732af2fc7\",\"name\":\"Ronald Brakels\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Ronald Brakels\"},\"description\":\"Joining SolarQuotes in 2015, Ronald has a knack for reading those tediously long documents put out by solar manufacturers and translating their contents into something consumers might find interesting. Master of heavily researched deep-dive blog posts, his relentless consumer advocacy has ruffled more than a few manufacturer's feathers over the years. Read Ronald's full bio.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/BrakelsRonald\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/author\/ronald\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SA Homes Can Remain On Flat Electricity Tariff When Getting Solar","description":"Despite what you may have heard, South Australians are not being forced onto a time-of-use tariff when they get solar panels installed.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Don't Panic: SA Homes Can Remain On Flat Tariff When Getting Solar","og_description":"Despite what you may have heard, South Australians are not being forced onto a time-of-use tariff when they get solar panels installed.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/","og_site_name":"SolarQuotes Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/","article_published_time":"2021-07-12T01:59:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-14T06:25:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sapn-meter.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ronald Brakels","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@BrakelsRonald","twitter_site":"@solar_quotes","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/"},"author":{"name":"Ronald Brakels","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0ce1779b3f5cb67cb4f146732af2fc7"},"headline":"Don&#8217;t Panic: SA Homes Can Remain On Flat Tariff When Getting Solar","datePublished":"2021-07-12T01:59:25+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-14T06:25:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/"},"wordCount":1283,"commentCount":23,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sapn-meter.jpg","articleSection":["Electricity Prices"],"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/","name":"SA Homes Can Remain On Flat Electricity Tariff When Getting Solar","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sapn-meter.jpg","datePublished":"2021-07-12T01:59:25+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-14T06:25:27+00:00","description":"Despite what you may have heard, South Australians are not being forced onto a time-of-use tariff when they get solar panels installed.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sapn-meter.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sapn-meter.jpg","width":1200,"height":628,"caption":"SA Homes Not Required To Have Time-Of-Use Tariff When Getting Solar"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-tou-tariff-solar\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Electricity Prices","item":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/electricity-prices\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Don&#8217;t Panic: SA Homes Can Remain On Flat Tariff When Getting Solar"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/","name":"SolarQuotes Blog","description":"An independent reckoning of the Aussie solar scene","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization","name":"SolarQuotes","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png","width":592,"height":600,"caption":"SolarQuotes"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/","https:\/\/x.com\/solar_quotes","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/solarquotes\/","https:\/\/au.linkedin.com\/company\/solarquotes","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SolarQuotesAustralia"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0ce1779b3f5cb67cb4f146732af2fc7","name":"Ronald Brakels","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r","caption":"Ronald Brakels"},"description":"Joining SolarQuotes in 2015, Ronald has a knack for reading those tediously long documents put out by solar manufacturers and translating their contents into something consumers might find interesting. Master of heavily researched deep-dive blog posts, his relentless consumer advocacy has ruffled more than a few manufacturer's feathers over the years. Read Ronald's full bio.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/BrakelsRonald"],"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/author\/ronald\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sapn-meter.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2FF2s-dru","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49859,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/compare-regional-qld-electricity\/","url_meta":{"origin":51676,"position":0},"title":"Regional Queensland Has Electricity Retailer Choice. But Which Is Cheapest?","author":"Ronald Brakels","date":"May 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Do you live in regional Queensland? \u00a0Do you think your only choice of electricity retailer is Ergon Energy? Then I have exciting news for you. \u00a0You can choose who bills you for electricity. This is not a new thing.\u00a0 But many people aren't aware of it.\u00a0 Until recently, this included\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electricity Prices&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electricity Prices","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/electricity-prices\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/qld-retailer-choice.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/qld-retailer-choice.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/qld-retailer-choice.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/qld-retailer-choice.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/qld-retailer-choice.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49945,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aer-vic-flat-tariff\/","url_meta":{"origin":51676,"position":1},"title":"AER Ruling: Victorian DNSPs Must Offer Flat Tariff To All. Except EV Owners.","author":"Ronald Brakels","date":"May 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I have just read the Australian Energy Regulator's FINAL DECISION Statement on Victorian Energy Distribution for 2021-2026.\u00a0 According to the document, Victorian electricity distributors will be required to: Make a flat tariff available to all residential customers, including homes with solar panels, unless... The household has an Electric Vehicle (EV),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electricity Prices&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electricity Prices","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/electricity-prices\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"AER's final decision on flay tariffs","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/vic-aer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/vic-aer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/vic-aer.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/vic-aer.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/vic-aer.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48218,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/time-of-use-tariffs-solar\/","url_meta":{"origin":51676,"position":2},"title":"Don&#8217;t Let Retailers Force You On To Time-Of-Use Tariffs When You Go Solar","author":"Ronald Brakels","date":"March 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"When you get solar panels installed, your old electricity meter is replaced with a smart meter.\u00a0 Unless you already have one.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This isn't a bad thing in itself, as smart meters provide some advantages.\u00a0 But there is a problem if installing a smart meter is used as an excuse to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Solar Installation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Solar Installation","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-installation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"australian dnsps","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/dnsps.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/dnsps.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/dnsps.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/dnsps.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/dnsps.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":33695,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/ausnet-forces-time-use-tariff\/","url_meta":{"origin":51676,"position":3},"title":"Victoria&#8217;s AusNet Forces New Solar Homes On Time-Of-Use Tariff For 12 Months","author":"Ronald Brakels","date":"September 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Update 16th January 2020: Yesterday we were sent a screenshot of what a home owner in the Ausnet area were told by Ausnet customer support.\u00a0 It states that Ausnet never allows solar homes to have a standard tariff in their area.\u00a0 This is different from what they told me on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Solar Installation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Solar Installation","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-installation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"AusNet - solar power and time of use tariff","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/ausnet.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/ausnet.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/ausnet.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/ausnet.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/ausnet.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23257,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/agl-20-cent-feed-in-tariff\/","url_meta":{"origin":51676,"position":4},"title":"Is AGL&#8217;s &#8216;Solar Savers&#8217; 20c Feed-In Tariff A Good Deal?","author":"Ronald Brakels","date":"August 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"If I were to ask: \"Would you like a 20 cent feed-in tariff for the electricity your solar system sends into the grid?\" Chances are at least some of you would reply: \"A whole 20 cents?\u00a0 That's more than what I'm getting now, so yeah, baby!\u00a0 Yeah!\" https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ayLPWCLot74 You may\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electricity Prices&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electricity Prices","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/electricity-prices\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/agl-fit-crop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/agl-fit-crop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/agl-fit-crop.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/agl-fit-crop.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/agl-fit-crop.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":86246,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/smart-meters-protections-mb2991\/","url_meta":{"origin":51676,"position":5},"title":"Proposed Changes Seek To Stop Smart Meter Shenanigans","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"August 22, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Australian households getting a smart meter installed will have better protection from electricity retailers behaving badly under proposed changes from the AEMC. A smart meter measures electricity use (and exports in the case of solar homes) at regular intervals, sending this information to a household's electricity retailer for billing purposes.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Smart meters - Australian consumer protections","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/smart-meter-protection.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/smart-meter-protection.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/smart-meter-protection.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/smart-meter-protection.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/smart-meter-protection.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51676"}],"version-history":[{"count":43,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52081,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51676\/revisions\/52081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}