{"id":72556,"date":"2023-03-20T05:40:30","date_gmt":"2023-03-19T19:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=72556"},"modified":"2023-03-20T05:40:30","modified_gmt":"2023-03-19T19:10:30","slug":"regional-qld-solar-tariff-mb2865","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/regional-qld-solar-tariff-mb2865\/","title":{"rendered":"Regional Queensland Solar Owners Rejoice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Regional<\/p>\n

There was some good news for solar owners in regional Queensland last week – another proposed big boost to the feed-in tariff rate. But don’t get too excited just yet.<\/p>\n

First, The Bad News<\/h2>\n

On Wednesday, the Queensland Competition Authority delivered a shock to residential and small business electricity customers with its draft determination on regulated retail electricity prices that will apply to standard contract customers from 1 July 2023.<\/p>\n

The QCA says draft prices would see 28.9% increase in the annual bill for a typical residential customer on tariff 11. For the typical small business customer on tariff 20, a 26.1% increase is expected.<\/p>\n

This isn’t yet set in stone; with feedback on the draft determination open until 14 April 2023. The Authority is expected to deliver its final determination by 9 June 2023, and prices will apply from July 1.<\/p>\n

Now, The Good News<\/h2>\n

On the same day the QCA published its draft determination on regulated retail electricity prices, it also published a draft solar feed-in tariff (FiT) rate for 2023\/24:<\/p>\n

12.952 cents per kilowatt hour (c\/kWh).<\/p>\n

This is 39% higher than the current feed-in tariff of 9.3 c\/kWh, which was 41% higher than it was in 2021-22 (6.583 cents). So, assuming the draft decision sticks, the regional Queensland feed-in tariff will have just about doubled in two years.<\/p>\n

The main reason for the proposed lift for 2023\/24 is due to a projected increase in wholesale energy costs for the region.\u00a0But before solar owners get too excited, the QCA has indicated<\/a> the final feed-in tariff will differ from the draft.<\/p>\n

“The price estimate in the draft determination is indicative only, as it is based on information at the time. For the final determination, it will be based on updated data and feedback from stakeholders.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As with proposed regulated retail electricity prices, there will be a feedback period until April 14, with the final determination expected to be published by 9 June 2023.<\/p>\n

What About South-East Queensland?<\/h2>\n

Unlike regional QLD, in South-East Queensland electricity retailers don\u2019t have to pay anything for surplus energy solar households export to the grid – but in most cases they do. However, the rates have tended to be less generous. Generally speaking, the range is around 5c – 7c at the moment.<\/p>\n

It pays to shop around electricity retailers<\/a>, but be aware the highest feed-in tariff doesn’t always represent the best deal as factors such as usage tariffs and daily charges need to be taken into account.<\/p>\n

Self-Consumption Reigns Supreme<\/h2>\n

Feed-in tariffs can go up and down. But what won’t change is this: to extract the maximum value from a solar power system, the focus should be on solar energy self-consumption.<\/p>\n

Even if the proposed regional QLD rate sticks, it still makes more financial sense to self-consume solar electricity than export it to the grid. Under Ergon Energy’s Tariff 11 as it currently stands, all usage is charged at 24.3c per kilowatt hour. Based on a current feed-in tariff rate of 9.3c, this means self-consuming solar is around 2.6 times more valuable than exporting it to the grid.<\/p>\n

Even when looking at Ergon’s current Time of Use (ToU) rates:<\/p>\n