Solar Feed-in Tariff ACT
The ACT currently has 5 companies offering feed-in tariffs. They rates are actually quite good as compared to other states and territories. When selecting a company to supply energy with the hope of saving money with your solar panels, the FiT is only half the story. You also need to take into account the supply charge and usage charge.
Daily supply charge + Usage charge c/kWh – Feed-in Tariff c/kWh
Calculate FiT Savings in ACT
Below is the list of ACT suppliers with the usage, supply and FiT rates. Our calculations and recommendations are based on 25kWh daily usage (Standard 3-bedroom house usage) using a 6kWh solar system (24 – 26kWh output daily).
A typical home will use 30% of its power during the day and 70% at night.
Example
Daily supply charge = 97.35c
Total daily usage = 25kWh
> 30% Daily usage (7.5kWh) = Free (direct free power from solar panels)
> 70% Excess power generated (17.5kWh) fed to the grid at 10c/kWh = $1.75
> 70% (17.5kWh) Bought back off the power company at night @ 21.17c/kWh =$3.70
Daily use w/out solar: 97.35c (25 x 21.17c) = $6.27
Daily use with solar: 97.35c + (17.5 x 21.17c) – $1.75 = $2.93
Monthly use w/out solar = $188.10
Daily use with solar = $87.9
Yearly Savings = $1,202.40
Our Top 3 Picks
Based on the above calculations we can definitively say that Origin Energy is by far the best deal for power supplier and solar FiT combo at todays rates.
Here are the top 3 in order:
1. Origin Energy
Origin Energy trounces the competition with ultra-low supply and usage charges, as well as the best feed-in tariff rate. It’s hard to go past these prices.
2. Red Energy
Next up is Red Energy. They also have a very healthy usage charge and FiT rate, but their supply charge is 20c per day, which is more expensive. It will still have you running your home at a very reasonable price of $0.84 per day.
3. ActewAGL
And the runner-up is ActewAGL who were a bit cheaper than Red Energy on the supply charge, but a little more expensive on the usage charge. Still all in all a good deal. When you compare them against the bottom of the chart you can see why.
| Electricity Retailer | Supply charge | Usage Charge c/kWh | FiT c/kWh | 25kW Daily Usage Cost | Exported 17.5kWh | Net Daily Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 80.27c/day | 19.87 | 10c | $2.29 | $1.75 | $0.54 |
| 100.1c/day | 21.17 | 10c | $2.59 | $1.75 | $0.84 |
| 97.35c/day | 23.86 | 10c | $2.76 | $1.75 | $1.01 |
 | 83.73c/day | 22.58 | 5.91c | $2.53 | $1.03 | $1.50 |
 | 86c/day | 26.5 | 7.1c | $2.85 | $1.24 | $1.61 |
 | 101.86c/day | 31.47 | 7.6c | $3.38 | $1.33 | $2.05 |
 | 103.13c/day | 29.04 | 5.50c | $3.21 | $0.96 | $2.25 |
 | 98.65c/day | 27.59 | 4.4c | $3.06 | $0.77 | $2.29 |
All prices in the above chart were collected from the Australian Energy Regulator and are true at the time of writing this article. We keep them up to date as they change.
Armed with the above calculations, you can easily work out the best deal on any power supply with a solar FiT plan.
Author: Ben McInerney is a renewable energy enthusiast with the goal of helping more Australians understand solar systems to make the best choice before they purchase. Having an accredited solar installer in the family helps give Ben access to the correct information, which allows him to break it down and make it easily understandable to the average homeowner.
