Feed-in tariffs: why exporting is worth so much less than it used to be

The inversion

A decade ago, generous feed-in tariffs meant exporting solar was lucrative - some early schemes paid more for exports than customers paid for grid power. Systems were designed to maximise generation and export everything.

That era is over. Feed-in tariffs in NSW now commonly sit in the single digits of cents per kilowatt-hour, while grid power costs several times that. The rational design goal flipped completely: from maximising export to maximising self-consumption.

Why rates fell

Simple supply and demand. Rooftop solar became widespread, and it all generates at the same time - the middle of the day. Midday wholesale electricity prices in states with heavy rooftop penetration are now routinely very low and occasionally negative. Retailers won't pay a premium for energy that's abundant precisely when nobody needs it.

This isn't a conspiracy against solar owners; it's the predictable consequence of solar's own success. And it's why the value has migrated from generating to storing.

What this means for your system

Three practical consequences. First, self-consumption is the primary objective - a smaller system that you fully use can outperform a larger one that exports heavily. Second, load-shifting matters: running the dishwasher, pool pump or EV charger during the day converts cheap exports into avoided expensive purchases. Third, batteries make increasingly good sense, because the export/import gap is the battery's business case.

It also means you should check your feed-in rate specifically when comparing retailer plans, and re-check it after your system changes your usage profile. A plan that suited you before solar may not suit you after.

Export limits

Separately from what you're paid, networks limit how much you can export - commonly 5 kW per phase in NSW, though this varies by network and location. This is a physical constraint on the design, not a pricing one, and it's one of the things we check before quoting rather than after installing.