IPART set a solar feed-in tariff benchmark of 4.6 to 5.5 c/kWh for 2021‑22. This is a guide for customers about how much they can expect to receive from their retail for their excess solar electricity that is fed into the grid.
To guide customers about the value of their exports at different times of the day, we also set time-dependent benchmarks. The time-dependent benchmarks are highest between 5 pm and 6 pm, when solar exports could be worth up to 14.5 c/kWh in 2021-22. This is significantly higher than IPART’s all-day benchmark. However, currently less than 0.5% of exports occur after 5 pm.
We set the benchmarks for the solar feed-in tariff at the same price as what it would cost retailers to buy electricity from large generators at the times that solar is exporting to the grid. Our benchmarks for 2021-22 are lower than the 2020-21 benchmarks because wholesale prices are falling. This is being driven by increased solar penetration, which has decreased demand for electricity from the National Electricity. Lower wholesale prices should also benefit customers through reduced electricity retail prices. These lower prices are reflected in the price caps set by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER), which fell by 2.7% to 6% in NSW from July 2021.
We have released several documents alongside our Final Report:
- A Fact sheet for solar customers about the 2021-22 feed-in tariff benchmark
- An Information paper about the long term value of solar exports
- A Technical paper, which provides the detailed methodology on how we set the benchmark
- A Consultant report which provides advice on our detailed methodology for how we set the benchmark