'Sabotage': Regulator Slammed For Move To Slash Solar Feed-In Tariffs

Fairfax - Peter Hannam

The decision by the independent pricing regulator to slash payments for households exporting surplus solar power from their rooftop panels will "sabotage" the industry, critics warn.
The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) released its final report on solar feed-in tariffs on Tuesday, recommending the voluntary payments be cut from 11¢-15¢ per kilowatt-hour by about half from the start of this month to 6.9¢-8.4¢.

Less for more: Solar installations are running at record levels but feed-in tariffs are to be cut in NSW. Photo: Justin McManus

"Our view is that households without solar panels should not have to pay higher retail prices to reduce the bills of customers with solar panels," IPART said in justifying its cut. "This would
disadvantage the households who are unable to install a solar system themselves."
It noted a household with a 2-kilowatt photovoltaic system was already paying about $1550 a year for power, $550 less than those without panels.
Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton said IPART’s recommended benchmark was "an important signal to ensure consumers are getting a fair price for their energy without penalising consumers that can’t access rooftop solar including renters and apartment dwellers".
"The cost of installing rooftop solar continues to fall and we expect to see strong take-up continue in NSW," she said.
But Labor, the Greens and the Smart Energy Council criticised the move, each noting part of the justification for lowering the tariff was that wholesale prices had lately fallen.
"It's sort of sabotaging the clean energy transition," Adam Searle, Labor's energy spokesman, said.
"It starts to unravel that downward pressure on wholesale prices" being driven by rooftop solar and other renewable energy, he said.
A Labor government would legislate a "mandatory and fair feed-in tariff", Mr Searle said, adding that IPART's methodology used to set prices would be "looked at closely".
Tamara Smith, a Greens MP, said the price cut was a result of the Berejiklian government's failure to instruct IPART "to assess the true value of solar".
It should take into account "the avoided health and carbon costs solar brings by reducing the amount of fossil fuels that are burnt", Ms Smith said.
John Grimes, head of the Smart Energy Council, said solar PV take-up would likely continue at a record pace despite the tariff cut, with 380,000 NSW households already using panels.
More people, though, would likely add storage as a result of the cut, and find ways to match energy demand to their panels' output.
"People should be thinking about batteries and maximising self-consumption," Mr Grimes said.
According to Solar Choice, the NSW price currently paid varies widely across retailers, with Mojo Power paying 20 cent per kilowatt-hour. The NSW price compares with a minimum of about 11.3 cents for most retailers in Victoria, while some towns in Western Australia pay as much as 50 cents per kilowatt-hour exported.

Links

• Solar feed-in tariffs (pdf)
• Solar rooftops hit record level as state governments increase support
• Which electricity retailer is giving the best solar feed-in tariff?
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