In effect
Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems generate electricity from the owner’s home or business. If solar panels produce more electricity than the premises is using, the surplus electricity is exported, or ‘fed in’, to the electricity network. Solar feed-in tariffs are the prices electricity retailers pay solar customers for these exports.
Regional customers
In regional Queensland there is limited competition in the retail electricity market, with Ergon Retail being the dominant retailer. Since 2014–15, the QCA has used an ‘avoided cost’ method to set a feed-in tariff that aims to ensure solar customers receive a fair and reasonable return for their solar exports. Our solar feed-in tariff determination for 2022–23 was published in May 2022.
SEQ customers
The south east Queensland (SEQ) electricity market has been deregulated since July 2016. Customers can now compare electricity offers, including solar feed-in tariffs, from electricity retailers at Energy Made Easy. We monitor solar feed-in tariffs in SEQ, as directed by the Minister responsible for energy. Our annual solar feed-in tariff monitoring report for 2021–22 was published in October 2021.
More information
In March 2013 we published a report on estimating a ‘fair and reasonable’ solar feed-in tariff in Queensland. The report indicated that the costs of the Solar Bonus Scheme were forecast to be $3.4 billion by 2028, and that the costs of the scheme were paid by all Queenslanders though higher network charges.
For more information, see the Queensland Government’s solar feed-in tariffs web page and the Queensland Productivity Commission’s solar feed-in pricing inquiry web page.