Solar Power Rebates

Households, community organisations and small businesses with solar photovoltaic systems and energy consumption less than 100 mega-watt hours a year can access the Victorian feed-in tariff, which pays a minimum of 60 cents a kilowatt hour for energy fed back into the grid.

It is paid as a credit off your electricity consumption, appearing on your electricity bills. Systems must be less than 5 kilowatts in size in order to be eligible for the Victorian tariff.

A household with a typical 1 kilowatt system that generates 4 kilowatt hours a day and feeds 75 per cent of the electricity back into the grid would receive about $2 a day off its electricity bills. 

Find out more about  the state feed-in tariff scheme.

Find out what feed-in tariffs are offered by Victorian electricity retailers.

Although the Federal Government does not give direct rebates for solar photovoltaic systems, households do qualify for Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) through the renewable energy market.

The number of RECS generated depends on the size and location of the system. From January 2011, there will be a standard price of $40 a REC for small-scale solar systems.

The value of a solar system's RECs is subtracted from the price of a system at the time of purchase.

 In Melbourne a 1.5 kilowatt array costing between $8000 and $10,000 comes down to about $2500-$4500 after the calculation of RECs. 

Find out more about the RET process for Owners of Small Generation Units (SGU's).

Find out more about Renewable Energy Certificates.