The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) recently released its final report on solar feed-in tariffs (the rate paid for electricity fed back into the grid from a renewable electricity generation source).
This report sets out what IPART considers reasonable payments to NSW residential consumers who feed solar electricity back into the grid.
The final report included two positive changes that responded to PIAC’s advocacy. Consumers will receive an additional payment of 0.1c/kWh in response to an issue PIAC raised on National Market Fees, and IPART will undertake better monitoring and assessment of voluntary Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) under price deregulation.
Overall, however, the report is disappointing for most consumers. IPART rejected PIAC’s call for the development of a best practice method for setting FiTs in NSW and a mandatory minimum FiT of 8c/kWh in the interim (which would be consistent with what is required for households with solar in most other states).