Overview
The Essential Services Commission has completed reviewing the 2021-22 minimum feed-in tariffs that your energy company is allowed to pay you for power you export to the grid from small renewable energy sources including solar panels.
View more information about the minimum feed-in tariff and how it affects you.
Minimum feed-in tariffs to apply from 1 July 2021
Relevant retailers can offer solar customers the minimum flat feed-in tariff and/or time-varying feed-in tariffs for electricity exported to the grid. The table below shows the minimum feed-in tariffs to apply from 1 July 2021.
Retailers may offer feed-in tariffs higher than the minimum.
| Flat FiT rate | Time-varying FiT rates (cents per kWh) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
All times | Off peak Weekdays: 10pm-7am Weekends: 10pm-7am | Shoulder Weekdays: 7am-3pm, 9pm-10pm Weekends: 7am-10pm | Peak Weekdays: 3pm-9pm Weekends: n/a |
6.7 | 6.7 | 6.1 | 10.9 |
The minimum feed-in tariffs reflect the forecast wholesale electricity prices for the 12-month period up to 2 February 2021.
Key facts about the 2021-22 tariff
The minimum single feed-in tariff of 6.7 cents per kilowatt hour is 34 per cent lower than the current feed-in tariff of 10.2 cents per kilowatt hour. The minimum time-varying feed-in tariffs are also lower than the current time-varying feed-in tariffs.
The decrease in minimum feed-in tariffs is mainly due to recent decreases in wholesale electricity prices that are expected to continue into 2021-22.
Starting 1 June 2021, retailers will have to notify their solar customers of annual feed-in tariff rate changes at least five business days before the changes take effect. This is to ensure there is a fair and common approach to notifying solar customers about changes to the minimum feed-in tariff.
Read our final decision
How we engaged
We received 79 submissions from 50 stakeholders on our draft decision. Feedback came from 46 solar customers, three electricity retailers and a biogas company.
We sought stakeholders' feedback in a number of ways. We gave them seven weeks to make a submissions instead of the minimum four weeks. We held two online public forums to ensure people could attend. We also set up a virtual public forum on our Engage Victoria page, for questions and answers.
We have considered stakeholders' feedback in reaching our final decision. Details of how we considered the issues raised by stakeholder feedback can be found in our public engagement summary report.
View a full list of submissions on our website. You can also view questions raised by stakeholders, and our responses on this page.
You can view recordings of the forum and a question and answer session on YouTube.
Our virtual public forum
Ask us questions about our draft decision. To remain anonymous put 'anonymous' as your screen name. We will try to reply within three business days. We may take a bit longer to get back to you over the holiday period. Thank you for your patience.
Collection notice
As part of making a submission, we need you to provide personal information, such as your name, email address, town of residence and postcode. We will use this information to send you updates about this review.
Our policy is to publish all submissions on the Essential Services Commission website. This process may involve publishing your personal information (your name, not your address). You can request anonymity by selecting the relevant tickbox.
We may also collect personal information when you email us with a query. Aside from exceptions in relevant privacy legislation, we will not use or disclose the information you provide for any purpose other than to progress and respond to your query.
You have the right to access personal information we hold about you. We may ask you to pay a small fee for this. You can also request that we correct your personal information in our records at no charge.
Requesting anonymity
You can request anonymity by selecting the relevant tickbox on this page. Depending on the circumstances, requesting anonymity may affect the weight we can give to your submission. Information that influences our decisions generally needs to be disclosed so stakeholders can understand the reasons for our findings.
Read more information about our submissions policy.
About us
The Essential Services Commission is an independent regulator that promotes the long-term interests of Victorian consumers with respect to the price, quality and reliability of essential services. We regulate Victoria’s energy, water and transport sectors, and administer the local government Fair Go Rates system.
