Reduction in solar feed-in tariff from 5.00 to 4.00 cents - No informaiton provided.

70ps3cr37
Switched-on
2 Replies 346 Views

On Monday 21 October 2024, I received an email that stated AGL had completed a 'Review' of the Solar Feed-In Tariff, & decided to reduce the tariff from 5 cents to 4 cents. A copy of this 'Review' was not attached. I have no idea what the 'Review' actually revealled.

AGL, please post an 'unredacted' copy of this 'Review'. 

The State and Commonwealth Governments persuaded us to purchase and have installed Solar Panels (in my case it cost $10,000). Now, you reduce the tariff & the customer will struggle to see any return on this investment. I have now begun a search for a cheaper energy provider. The whole campaign of solar panel installation was one of propaganda and misinformation. This reduction smells of greed. Bring on nuclear power!

3 REPLIES 3
Lester
Powerhouse
0 Replies 338 Views

We are being driven to self consumption, instead of a decent feed in.

Using as much as possible during solar hours saves a lot more than feed in . . . in general, of course there are some grandfathered plans that pay a lot more, so too some states that still pay a very generous FIT.

 

Eg, in SA new solar plans now get 3c, down from 5c or 6c, while highest peak rate for TOU is just under 50c.

My brother in Nth Qld gets just over 12c FIT, and his single (fixed) rate is just over 34c inc gst.

 

Some states are even more generous, I think WA has a solar soak rate of 8c, or at least I read that somewhere a while ago.

 

Anyway, a battery is needed now to keep power bills nil or very low, yet another outlay 😕

At least for the near future . . . how long then until the rules are changed again ?

We have retailers heading for zero FITs, then this new 'sun tax' will start to hurt, unless you have a battery or at least a Catch Control ($1000 + install), supply charges will only keep going up, so too tariffs.

 

We should be the lucky country with power prices, like we used to be.

Geogo13
Switched-on
1 Reply 304 Views

Wholeheartedly agree. Absolutely no justification for yet another rip off. Would love to be able to take my business elsewhere but these Government sanction rip-offs are all pervasive.Time AGL took a good hard look at itself. I am now taking a good hard look elsewhere,  too.

Lester
Powerhouse
0 Replies 297 Views

It will possibly vary in many parts of Australia, but here in SA I have found very little real competition, even though there are quite a variety of retailers . . . in my example above, the area my brother is in has one, just one retailer, and his FIT is much higher and considerably lower tariff, go figure.

 

I have used the AGL comparisons to make sure I'm on the best plan with them, and also the GOVCO energymadeeasy.gov.au site, and if you find  retailer that is lower in tariffs, they will have much higher daily supply charge, and vice versa.

So you really have to understand your own households usage, what plan is best for that . . . if solar alone will help meaningfully to reduce your bill, if solar without a battery is totally waste of $ for you, etc etc, there is no one size fits all.

 

So my take on energy retailers is there is often little real competition, they are all either scraping through, or making a heap off consumers.

 

We can blame the obvious rush to renewables I feel, pushed by GOVCO, and if you believe some of the 'theories' out there, it's from higher up, much higher.

Way too quick for major renewables infrastructure, the capability of the countries power networks.

What should have been done is get more investment in the network to cope with rooftop solar, get more homes / commercial / industrial properties into solar with batteries, and battery storage onto homes with existing suitable solar systems . . . to self consume, and reduce grid problems, some with such setups will totally eliminate grid needs, others taking far less at peak times.

For many systems of good capacity, incentivise them into VPP type deals, taking further stress off the grid by sending power to the grid at peak times.

Gas baseload as needed would have been good in the interim to keep the lights on reliably, and energy prices reasonable, but alas the agenda seems to be nothing but renewables is wanted by the powers that be.