Solar panels on rooftops in western Sydney.Credit:Wolter Peeters
The effect of the changes,which will take effect in two phases across 2024 and 2025,is that all three energy distributors in NSW intend to clip the ticket on the feed-in tariffs paid to consumers for producing electricity to try to shift solar exports to times of peak demand.
Solar households will still enjoy the benefits of reduced bills from using their own energy,and will still be paid feed-in tariffs from retailers based on wholesale electricity prices,but an additional network charge will reduce the payments during the day and increase it at night.
An Endeavour Energy spokesperson said the network needed to change to support exported energy to ensure a safe,reliable supply to everyone,and it developed its pricing structure after extensive consultation.
“It should ensure customers who cannot afford home solar systems and batteries are not unfairly charged for the costs required to support customers exporting to the grid,” the spokesperson said.
The distributor,which covers western Sydney,the Blue Mountains and southern NSW,will allow retailers to opt in to two-way pricing from this July. From July 2025,it will make it the default structure,but individual retailers can still opt out.
A spokesperson for Essential Energy,which covers the far northern,western and southern parts of NSW,said the export charge and reward would start in July 2025 and was designed to cover the cost of upgrading the network.
“Essential Energy is one of Australia’s largest electricity distribution networks with 200,000 kilometres of powerlines supplying over 890,000 customers,” the spokesperson said.