In March the NT Government made an announcement in which effective immediately for all new behind-the-meter solar installations of up to 30kW in size is a new feed-in-tariff of 8.3 cents per kWh. (An important side note: all businesses and households who currently receive the premium one-for-one FiT will continue to do so. They will only surrender the “premium FiT” if they upgrade the capacity of their system, move premises or take advantage of the battery subsidy.) 

8.3 cents per kWh is a huge drop, so in order to support the continued uptake of renewable energy we are calling on the government to implement an optional time-of-day tariff. 

A time-of-day tariff prices electricity differently depending on the time of day. During peak times, such as during weekday evenings when the network is most congested, electricity costs the most. With a time-of-day tariff, that peak period could become an opportunity for solar and battery owners to sell energy back to the grid and get the most bang for their back from their investments. 

A time-of-day tariff will continue to encourage greater uptake of rooftop PV and battery storage systems and could enable consumers to reduce their electricity costs during the most expensive times of the day, promote energy efficiency, and increase reliability and security by reducing demand pressure on the system at times of high demand.