Feed-in Tariff

Be rewarded for your surplus power.

Under the Queensland Government Solar Bonus Scheme, you will receive a Feed-in Tariff (FiT) for the surplus electricity that you produce and is fed back into the power grid. As of June 7, 2011, only systems up to 5kW are eligible for the Solar Bonus Scheme. After you have installed your FreeSolar system, and signed-up to the scheme, you will be paid a minimum of 44 cents per kilowatt hour for any energy you produce, but don’t use (your surplus energy). The minimum Feed-in Tariff of 44 cents is more than twice the current rate that you are charged for your power by your electricity retailer. Some electricity retailers offer Feed-in Tariffs of up to 52 cents, so it’s important that you talk to several electricity retailers to find the best possible deal for you to maximise your returns.

As an example, the average consumer operating a 1kilowatt (kW) solar system could save up to 25 per cent on their power bill. Your actual saving and return will depend on how much power is being consumed when your solar panels are generating power from around 9am to 3pm. You can maximise your pay-back by improving the energy efficiency of your home or farm to export more power to the grid. You can do this by:

• shifting your power consumption to early mornings and late afternoons and evenings. The idea is that when you are producing power, you sell it back to the grid rather than use it.
• installing a solar hot water system
• reducing standby power consumption by turning your appliances off at the wall when they are not being used
• replacing old appliances such as old fridges and freezers with new energy
• efficient star-rated appliances
• minimising the use of power hungry appliances like air-conditioning

Receiving your Solar Bonus

The Solar Bonus Feed-in Tariff will be paid for power fed into the grid whenever when your solar system generates more power than you use at any point in time during the day. Your total Solar Bonus for this excess power is then deducted from your power bill each quarter.

The amount of power you use from the grid will also be lower as you will be using a portion of your power directly from your solar system, reducing your bill even further.

If you produce more power than you consume over a 12-month period your electricity retailer will pay you. That’s right - the power companies pay you!

The Queensland Government is only accepting a limited number of systems under the Solar Bonus Scheme. Signing up now will ensure that you will be paid for your excess power under the Solar Bonus scheme until 2028!

Register NOW or risk missing out!

Calculating Solar Bonus Scheme Feed-in Tariff

Below is an estimate of what you might save under the Solar Bonus scheme.  This estimate takes into account feeding back 100% of your produced power to the grid. Remember there are a lot of variables, and your actual saving will depend on the size of your household, what appliances you run, and when you use your power. Minimising your consumption between the solar production hours of around 9am to 3pm will maximise the power you sell back to the grid.

* Calculations are estimates for Queensland only. Actual production may vary.  Estimates are based on the following:
Average production of 4.2kW hours per 1kW of Solar PV Panels as per Clean Energy Council guidelines for South-East Queensland.
 44 cents is the minimum Feed-in Tariff in Queensland.  Your individual electricity retailer may offer more than 44 cents allowing you to save even more  Please discuss your agreement with your individual electricity retailer.