Both the Victorian State Government and Federal Government provide various forms of assistance for installing a solar system. These include a rebate off the price when you purchase the system, purchasing the excess power your system produces that you don’t consume during the day, as well as Victoria specific rebate programs.
We’ve provided a brief overview of each of the available rebates, along with some of the eligibility criteria for VIC residents and businesses below.
Credits for excess power: In Victoria you will receive a credit on your electricity bill for any unused solar power that is generated by your system and sent back to the grid. This is called a Feed-in Tariff (FiT). For those in the state of Victoria, your Feed-in Tariff will vary dependent on the rate offered by your energy retailer, however the Essential Services Commission of Victoria set the minimum feed-in tariff that your energy company will pay you.
If you are on a ‘single rate’ option, the minimum feed-in tariff in Victoria is 12.0 cents per kilowatt hour. If you are on a ‘time varying’ feed-in tariff rate, the minimum in Victoria is 9.9 cents per kilowatt hour for off peak times and 14.6 cents per kilowatt hour for peak periods.
The greatest benefit that your solar system will give you however is not from your credits for excess power, but rather by offsetting your daytime electricity consumption. For every unit of electricity your solar power system produces and that you consume at the premise saves you from having to purchase that unit from your electricity retailer.
Reduction in purchase price: When you install a solar system at your home in Victoria, you generate Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs), which are sometimes referred to as a ‘Government Solar Rebate’. You’ll receive 1 STC for every Megawatt of energy your system is expected to produce until 2031.
For example, a 5kW system (approx 17 panels) will produce around 88MWh worth of electricity over the 11-year period until 2031, meaning you are entitled to 88 STCs.
Once your system has been installed and the STCs have been registered, they can be sold to recover a portion of the cost of purchasing your solar PV system. Given the complexity surrounding creating and selling STCs, it’s common practice to assign the right to create the STCs to your VIC solar provider, in exchange for an upfront discount off the full, or ‘true’, system price.
STCs currently trade for around $37 each, which means you’d receive around $3,250 discount off the full, or ‘true’, cost of a 5kW system.
Infinite Energy will quote all Victorian residents a price is already inclusive of the STC discount. This is the final out-of-pocket price of your system. STC’s reduce every year on the 1st of January (and will do so until they are completely phased out), so it’s best to avoid holding off installing your system to acquire the maximum amount.
Solar PV panel rebate: The Victorian Homes Solar Rebate program provides eligible Victorian households with a rebate of up to 50% of the purchase cost to install solar PV panels. The rebate is up to $1850 and will remain capped at this price through till December 2020.
To be eligible, homeowners must be the occupier of the property and have a combined maximum household income of up to $180,000 per year and the home must be valued at under $3 million.
Solar battery rebate: The Victorian Homes Solar Rebate program also includes a solar battery rebate. The maximum rebate is $4,838. These rebates will be available to people in designated suburbs who have already installed solar panels but have not already accessed a solar rebate.
Finance facilitation service: The Victorian Environmental Upgrade Finance offers a free finance facilitation service to all businesses, property owners, tenants, councils and community groups seeking to invest in energy efficiency upgrades, renewable energy, water and waste efficiency improvements.
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