How much is my solar energy worth?
In 2023-24, IPART forecasts that the value of solar exports will be 7.7 to 9.4 c/kWh. This guide could help you work out whether your retailer is offering a reasonable feed-in tariff for your solar exports. You can compare rates on the Commonwealth Government Energy Made Easy website.
We also publish a guide on how much solar exports are worth at different times of the day.
The Table below shows IPART’s recent guides on the value of solar feed-in all-day tariffs, and also provides links to information on the offers available in the market for that year.
|
Year |
Benchmark (c/kWh) |
More information |
Offers available in the market |
| 2023-24 | 7.7 to 9.4 | ||
| 2022-23 |
6.2 to 10.4 |
||
|
2021-22 |
4.6 to 5.5 |
||
|
2020-21 |
6.0 to 7.3 |
||
|
2019-20 |
8.5 to 10.4 |
||
|
2018-19 |
6.9 to 8.4 |
Retailers are not required to offer feed-in tariffs in line with our guide. Some retailers are offering feed-in tariffs above our guide. However, these offers may be conditional, for example, the retailer may require the household purchase a solar system or battery from them, or they may only offer a higher feed-in tariff to a daily capped volume of solar exports. Also, the highest feed-in tariff may not be the best overall deal, as some high feed-in tariffs may also be paired with higher retail prices. You need to consider the entire energy plan, as well as your electricity consumption and solar exports when comparing offers.
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.
Increasing wholesale prices have driven higher benchmarks over the last 2 years
Wholesale prices increased significantly over the last year due to the war in the Ukraine which has led to higher gas and coal prices, and disruptions in several large coal-fired power plants. This led to a higher benchmark in 2022-23, up from around 5 c/kWh in 2021-22.
As wholesale prices are forecast to stabilise over 2023-24, the 2023-24 benchmark is similar to the 2022-23 benchmark.
In the future, we expect additional solar capacity would put downward pressure on wholesale prices during the day when solar is exporting to the grid.