Is Your Solar Feed-In Tariff Still Competitive? Upload Your Bill to Check

If you have solar panels, your electricity bill contains a figure that most solar households never properly evaluate: the feed-in tariff rate, the cents per kilowatt-hour your retailer pays you for electricity you export to the grid.

That rate is almost certainly lower than it was when you first connected solar. And it may be significantly lower than what other retailers are currently offering.

This matters because the feed-in tariff is part of your total energy cost equation. Getting more for your export reduces your net bill. Staying with a low FiT rate when higher rates are available in your market is a form of the same loyalty penalty that affects standard electricity customers, but on both sides of the meter.

Why Solar Feed-In Tariffs Have Changed

Feed-in tariffs have declined substantially across Australia over the past decade. In the early years of residential solar, state government-mandated premium FiTs of 40–60 cents per kilowatt-hour were available in some states. Those premium schemes have all closed to new entrants.

Current retailer-offered FiTs in the voluntary market range from less than 2 cents per kWh to around 10–12 cents per kWh depending on state, distributor, and retailer, with occasional higher rates available on specific plans. The variation is significant. A household exporting 2,000 kWh per year receives $40 from a retailer offering 2 c/kWh and $200 from a retailer offering 10 c/kWh. For a household with a larger system exporting 4,000+ kWh annually, the difference between the lowest and highest available FiT rates is $300 or more per year.

The factors driving the variation:

Network constraints. Some distribution networks have hit export limits in high-solar penetration areas. In these areas, voluntary FiT rates are lower because the grid literally has limited capacity to accept more solar at peak export times.

Retailer market positioning. Some retailers actively compete for solar customers by offering higher FiT rates. Others don't prioritise the solar segment and offer minimal rates. There is no obligation for retailers to offer any particular FiT rate, and the minimum in most states is currently set very low.

Time-varying FiT structures. Some retailers now offer time-varying FiTs, with higher rates for export during peak demand periods, lower rates during periods of grid oversupply (typically sunny midday when many solar systems are at peak output). Whether a time-varying FiT benefits you depends on when your system actually exports.

What Your Bill Shows You

Your electricity bill shows your feed-in tariff in the usage or charges section, typically as:

• Feed-in tariff or solar feed-in credit, expressed in cents per kilowatt-hour (c/kWh)
• Total solar export, the kilowatt-hours exported to the grid for the billing period
• Total feed-in credit, the dollar value of your solar export credit

These three figures together tell you: what you're being paid per unit of export, how much you're exporting, and what you're earning in dollar terms.

What your bill doesn't tell you: whether that rate is competitive relative to what other retailers are currently offering for solar customers in your area.

The Two-Sided Equation for Solar Households

Solar customers have a more complex comparison than non-solar households. You're not just comparing usage rates. You're comparing the total net cost of your electricity across:

1. Grid import costs: What you pay per kWh for electricity you draw from the grid (when your solar isn't generating enough to meet demand, typically evenings, cloudy days and peak morning usage)

1. Feed-in credits: What you receive per kWh for electricity you export to the grid (typically midday when solar generation exceeds household demand)

1. Supply charge: The daily fixed cost of grid connection

The right plan for a solar household optimises across all three. A plan with an excellent feed-in tariff but a high usage rate may not be better than a plan with a moderate feed-in tariff and a low usage rate, depending on how much your household imports versus exports.

This is why postcode-based comparison is particularly unreliable for solar households. The comparison requires knowing your actual import and export volumes, which are on your bill.

How the Solar Comparison Works

When you upload your bill and you have solar, we extract:

• Your import consumption (kWh drawn from the grid)
• Your export volume (kWh sent to the grid)
• Your current feed-in tariff rate (c/kWh received)
• Your current usage rate (c/kWh paid)
• Your current supply charge (c/day)

We then calculate your net bill cost: import charges + supply charges - feed-in credits = net cost.

We run this calculation against every plan available in your postcode that offers a feed-in tariff, using your actual import and export volumes. The result shows you your net annual cost on your current plan versus the net annual cost on the best available alternatives, accounting for both sides of the meter.

A plan might look attractive because of a high FiT rate. But if it has a high supply charge or a high usage rate, the headline FiT rate can be misleading. We run the full calculation so you see the real net position.

The Common Solar Billing Mistakes We See

Self-consumption not reflected in the comparison. Many solar households focus on their feed-in rate without tracking that the electricity they consume directly from their panels (self-consumption, not exported) is also free electricity. The right plan needs to minimise both import costs and maximise export value, but the self-consumption portion, typically 30–60% of solar generation depending on household occupancy and usage patterns, is also a factor.

Not checking whether export limits apply. Some networks in high-solar-density areas have introduced export limits, a cap on how much a household system can export at any given time. If an export limit applies to your network area, the maximum benefit you can receive from a high FiT rate is capped. This affects the comparison.

Not accounting for time-varying tariffs on both sides. If you're on a time-varying FiT (paid more at peak times, less at off-peak), and also on a time-of-use import tariff, the interaction between when you're generating, when you're consuming, and when peak pricing applies determines your real net cost. Standard comparison tools almost never handle this correctly. We read both rate structures from your bill and apply them.

Staying loyal to the original connection retailer. Many solar households were connected through the installer's recommended retailer. That retailer may have offered a reasonable FiT at the time of installation. The market has moved since then, and the FiT that looked attractive in 2021 or 2022 may now be well below current best offers.

Upload Your Bill

If you have solar panels and you haven't compared your plan in the last 12 months, the probability that your feed-in tariff is below the current market best is high. The variation between retailers in the voluntary FiT market is substantial, and the difference between the lowest and highest available rates for your postcode can represent hundreds of dollars per year for a medium-to-large system.

Upload your bill. We'll read both sides of your energy equation, import and export, and show you where your household sits in the current market.

Feed-in tariff rates are set by retailers and vary by state, distributor network, and plan. Government-mandated minimum FiT rates apply in some states. Fix Your Bill uses CDR data and publicly available plan information for solar plan comparison. Export limit data for specific network areas may affect maximum FiT value.