Many households can reduce their electricity bills by installing solar panels. When you generate your own electricity, this is electricity you don’t have to purchase from your retailer.  This is the key benefit of having solar panels. 

As an added benefit, most retailers offer a “feed-in tariff”, which is a payment made for the unused electricity that you generate and export to the grid. 

The Australian Government’s Solar Consumer Guide provides information on the benefits of solar panels and can help you understand if they are right for you.

Who sets the solar feed-in tariffs? 

In NSW, retailers can choose whether or not to offer solar feed-in tariffs to their customers, and they can decide that level of the solar feed in tariff that they offer. Most retailers offer a single feed-in tariff rate (an “all-day” rate that applies at all times of the day). 

A small number of energy retailers in NSW also offer solar feed-in tariffs that vary depending on the time the electricity is exported to the grid. 

You can compare retailers’ feed-in tariff offers on the Commonwealth Government’s Energy Made Easy website.  Some plans with higher feed-in tariffs may have conditions attached, or be paired with higher prices, so you need to look at the entire energy plan, as well as your electricity consumption and solar exports when considering which plan is best for you.

What is IPART’s role?

Each year, IPART sets solar feed-in tariff benchmark ranges. These benchmark ranges provide a guide about the value of the solar feed-in tariffs to help you see if your electricity retailer is offering a reasonable solar feed-in tariff.

Our all-day solar feed-in benchmark is 4.8 to 7.3 c/kWh for 2025-26.  We also publish time-of-day solar feed-in tariff benchmark ranges. 

Once a year, we also report on how retailers’ feed-in tariffs compare to our benchmarks.  

What is IPART’s guide based on?

When you export your excess solar electricity to the grid, retailers can use this electricity to supply their other customers.

We set our guide for how much you can expect to be paid for your solar exports based on our forecast wholesale price of this electricity. This is what retailers would have paid if they had bought the electricity from the National Electricity Market. 

See more information about how we value solar energy exports.

Why has my solar feed-in tariff fallen?

Our benchmark for 2025-26 of 4.8 to 7.3 c/kWh is slightly higher than the benchmark we set for 2024-25 (which was 4.9 to 6.3 c/kWh). This reflects that wholesale prices are expected to be a bit higher over the 2025-26 financial year at the times solar is exporting. 

However, electricity retailers in NSW are not required to set their solar feed-in tariff offers within IPART’s benchmark range. They can also choose to decrease or increase their solar feed-in tariff offers at any time. 

Call or email your electricity retailer if they have lowered your solar feed-in tariff. When electricity retailers lower their solar feed-in tariffs, it is generally a good time to see if there is a better offer are available on the Commonwealth Government’s Energy Made Easy website.

 

Why is my solar feed-in tariff lower than the price I pay for electricity?

Households are paid by their retailer for the solar electricity they export to the grid. However, when this electricity is supplied to other households, retailers still must pay charges on each kilowatt hour they supply. 

The main charges are those paid to the network operator for using the energy grid. These can be around 30 c/kWh during peak times. Retailers also must recover other costs, including:

  • the difference between wholesale costs when solar is exporting to the grid and their average wholesale costs, which are higher
  • their environmental obligations to purchase renewable energy, demand reduction certificates, and paying into the climate change fund
  • their billing services, running their call centres, and other operations.

When these costs are added up, the retail price of electricity is higher than just the cost of the wholesale electricity supplied into the grid by households.

 

What are network charges for solar exports (or export charges)?

Network charges for solar exports, or export charges, are a new type of tariff. The Australian Energy Regulator has approved these tariffs being introduced from 1 July 2024.

These tariffs aim to send price signals to consumers about when it is beneficial (and not beneficial) to export excess energy to the grid. The charges consist of:

  • Export rewards, offered during times of the day when energy is most needed. Export rewards will be in addition to solar feed-in tariff payments.
  • Export charges, which may apply when solar users export large amounts of energy into the electricity network during times when energy is not needed
  • A basic export level – an export threshold up to which customers can export to the grid without charge.

Network charges for solar exports aim to send price signals to customers about when it is beneficial (and not beneficial) for the grid to receive energy generated.

IPART does not regulate or set export charges. You should contact you Distributed Network Service Provider (Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy or Essential Energy) to learn about the network charges for solar exports that apply in their network.

 

Could IPART set a higher benchmark range?

Electricity retailers in NSW are not required to set their solar feed-in tariff offers within IPART’s benchmark range. If we set a higher price, it would be less likely to reflect what electricity retailers are actually likely to pay. 

On the other hand, if we set a higher solar feed-in tariff and electricity retailers followed this, it would mean electricity retailers would need to cover this cost by charging customers higher overall prices for electricity. 

This means that customers who don’t have solar panels would end up paying more overall. Many of these customers are unable to install solar because they rent or live in an apartment.

 

Should I invest in solar panels or a battery?

While there are many benefits from solar panels and batteries, including lower electricity bills, cleaner energy and the ability to store energy which can help during blackouts, there are a range of things you need to consider. These include your own electricity usage, whether your roof is suitable, the size of the solar panel system and the cost total cost of the system and installation.

The Australian Government’s Solar Consumer Guide provides information on the benefits of solar panels and can help you understand if they are right for you. SunSPOT, a not-for-profit entity, also provides a free calculator that you can use to estimate the savings from solar panels and batteries for your home.