Determination of solar feed-in tariff premium 2012
- Project Released: 26 Aug 2011
- Project Closes: 27 Jan 2012
- Contact: Nathan Petrus
Overview
Recent changes to the feed-in tariff scheme have amended the amount that can be earned by customers that install eligible solar photo-voltaic (PV) generators. Customers with eligible PV generators are entitled to receive an additional premium, which has been determined by the Commission. The amount reflects the fair and reasonable value to a retailer of electricity fed into the network, and all retailers selling electricity to eligible customers are required to pay the amount.
Status
Current status is Final
- Initiate
- Submissions
- Draft
- Submissions
- Final
Final
The Commission has released its Final Price Determination for the solar
Feed-in Tariff (FiT) Premium to apply from 27 January 2012 – 30 June 2014.
The FiT Premium, which is credited on solar customers’ electricity bills when
they generate more electricity than they use, reflects the fair and reasonable
value of fed-in electricity to electricity retailers.
The Commission’s Final Determination is to set the FiT Premium as
follows:
Feed-in Tariff Premium (nominal cents per kWh and GST
exclusive)
2011-12 |
2012-13 |
2013-14 |
27 Jan 2012 to 30 June 2012 |
1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013 |
1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014 |
7.1c/kWh |
9.8c/kWh |
11.2c/kWh |
All electricity retailers are required to provide at least this minimum FiT
Premium to solar customers but may choose to credit a higher amount.
Solar customers are entitled to receive both the FiT Premium from electricity
retailers and an additional credit from the electricity distributor, ETSA
Utilities. Under the feed-in legislation, ETSA Utilities must pay eligible solar
customers 44c/kWh of fed-in electricity (for those that connected, or obtained
ETSA Utilities' approval to connect, the PV unit prior to 1 October 2011). From
1 October 2011, those solar customers that connected, or received approval to
connect, the PV unit will receive a credit from ETSA Utilities of 16c/kWh.
The current distributor funded FiT scheme provides generous subsidies to
existing customers with solar PV, particularly those who are eligible for the
44c/kWh amount. While the Commission supports the decision to phase out the
distributor funded scheme for new customers, it notes that the scheme may cost
all South Australian energy customers around $90m per annum, which adds around
$65 to the average annual household energy bill.
Under the amended legislation, those receiving 44c/kWh also get the FiT
premium determined by the Commission, which results in a total FiT amount of
51.1c/kWh from 27 January 2012. This will increase to about 53c/kWh from 1 July
2012. The total FiT amount is over 7 times the current value of wholesale
electricity produced by the systems, and over 4 times the value of electricity
being generated by wind farms (approximately 11c/kWh) .
The Final Price Determination, consultant report and fact sheet are available
below.