New Energy Solutions
The Federal Government Energy Bill Relief
The cost of living for many Australians is increasing, placing growing pressure on households to minimise their expenses. The Federal Government is aware of this problem and in response has introduced a number of incentives to help ease stress on homes through the form of credits, helping them to pay for recurring and unavoidable expenses such as energy bills.
In this article we’ll outline how this government incentive can help your home to cut costs so you can spend money on the things you actually enjoy. We’ll discuss eligibility, value, other important considerations and the benefits that this financial incentive can bring to your household.
Key Takeaways:
Government Support for Energy Costs: The Australian Federal Government is offering energy bill relief to help households and small businesses manage rising living costs, targeting around 10 million households and 1 million small businesses.
Credit Amounts: Households can receive a $300 credit on their energy bills throughout the 2024-2025 financial year, while small businesses may get $325, depending on eligibility criteria and location.
Distribution of Credits: Households will see four quarterly credits applied to their bills, whereas small businesses will receive quarterly credits too, with variations based on specific regions, particularly in Western Australia and Victoria.
Eligibility and Application: To qualify, you need an active electricity account, and having solar panels won't disqualify you. If you're in an embedded network (like an apartment complex), you might need to apply differently, but you can still receive the credits.
Australian Energy Bill Relief: An Overview
The Federal Government is providing energy bill relief to eligible Australian households and small businesses. This is usually a credit issued at intervals throughout the year that acts as a credit on your power bill reducing the overall price owed. The federal government aims to provide this incentive to 10 million Australian households and 1 million small businesses across the country.
What is the Aim of This Incentive?
This incentive is aimed at reducing cost of living pressures for Australian households. The government is acknowledging the growing stress for many to stay on top of costs as many unavoidable expenses continue to increase. This is especially true of electricity prices, the cost to power your home continuing to rise steadily.
What is the Value of the Energy Bill Relief?
The value and delivery format differs depending on your location and whether you’re applying for a residential property or a small business.
Incentive Value for Households:
The value of the incentive for Australian homes is $300. The credit will be provided to you over the 2024 -2025 financial year (1 July 2024 - 30 June 2025). The process for receiving this financial assistance is far more simple for residential properties in comparison to businesses applying to receive this incentive, the criteria for eligibility is much more simple:
You must have an active electricity account.
Incentive Value for Small Businesses:
If you’re a small business owner in Australia looking to take advantage of this program you could be entitled to a $325 credit on your energy bill. Although this may differ depending on whether you are a part of an embedded network (for example a shopping centre), to check if this affects your rates and eligibility you will need to check with your state government. There is an eligibility criteria that applies to small businesses looking to receive this incentive:
You must have an active electricity account.
Your business must NOT operate from a residential address (with a residential electricity tariff)
Your business must meet the definition of a ‘small business’ in your state, this is based on your energy consumption.
Energy Bill Relief Timeframe
This incentive will be applied to energy bills starting from July 2024. The timing of this credit for your specific property may vary depending on your location and billing cycle. The program will continue into 2025 ending on the 30th of June, or the end of the financial year.
How is This Incentive Applied?
For Households: you’ll receive four credits distributed quarterly as a credit on your electricity bill. Although if you’re a resident of Western Australia this will be delivered as two credits of $150 in July and again in December.
For Small Businesses: you’ll receive credits distributed quarterly valued at $81.25, again as a credit on your electricity bill. This also varies depending on location with business in Western Australia receiving two credits of $162.50 and if you’re located in Victoria, a single payment of $325 will be applied.
Energy Bill Credits
In the majority of cases this credit will be automatically applied by your chosen energy retailer and will appear as a line item on youtube electricity bill. Although a fairly simple process overall there are exceptions.
Embedded Network
An embedded network is a private electricity network such as an apartment block, caravan park or shopping centre to name a few. If you're a part of an embedded network you may not have a direct relationship with your energy retailer. Under these networks instead you will usually pay your electricity bill to an embedded network operator. To receive this incentive you or your network operator will need to apply. If you’re under an embedded network, depending on your state or territory, you may receive this credit as a one off payment.
What If I Have a Solar or Battery System Installed?
Having solar or another clean energy solution installed will not impact your eligibility to receive the incentive. Even if your electricity bill account balance is positive you are still eligible and able to receive the credits.
Receiving Energy Bill Relief When Moving Houses or Changing Retailer
Before we jump into what happens when you move houses or decide to go with another energy retailer, first your electricity account must be active on the census date for you to qualify for the incentive and receive the credits. If you are already receiving this incentive and decide to change your energy retailer after the first quarter (or for many states this also means after the first credit has been applied), then do not fear; your remaining credits will still be provided on schedule under your new supplier.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions about Installing Solar Power
There are great government rebates/incentives still in place for eligible households. Basically, the larger the panel array, the more STCs your solar system generates as it is based on the expected output of the system over time.
When you buy a solar system, the purchase price is normally reduced by the value of the STCs created by your system. You simply fill out a form on the day of installation to confirm that the system has been installed, and that’s it. There is no additional paperwork that you need to do.
Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs)
Small-scale Technology Certificates (STC’s) – previously known as Renewable Energy Certificates or RECS – are created when a Renewable Energy System such as a Solar PV system is installed.
The number of STC’s depends on the predicted amount of energy generated and hence the larger the system the greater the rebate. In essence, one STC is created for every megawatt-hour of production capacity of the system.
This is further multiplied by the number of years the system is likely to generate energy (for home solar systems, this is usually 15 years, although the life of the solar panels themselves is considerably more than that).
This incentive program is being phased out until 2030, so each year the number of certificates your system is eligible for reduces.
STC Price
The system for trading and pricing STCs for small systems is managed by the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES).
STCs are bought by Liable Parties (usually electricity retailers) and must be surrendered at the end of each quarter. As the number of STCs that are required to be surrendered is a fixed amount each year, but the number of STCs created is variable, the price paid for STCs also varies and is determined by supply and demand.
The Federal Government legislated in 2010 a fixed price for STCs by implementing a Clearing House system where STCs can be bought and sold for $40. However, there is no requirement for Liable Parties to purchase from the Clearing House, so they are likely to only do so if there is a shortage of STCs or the market price exceeds $40. There is currently a surplus of STCs in the market which means the market price of STC’s below $40
The Feed In Tariff is only something you need to worry about if you don’t have battery storage.
The price your chosen energy retailer pays for any excess electricity generated from your solar panels is recorded as a credit on your power bill.
In NSW, solar power is fed into your home as it is generated and your household will use it first before you draw power from the grid.
This means that for every kWh of solar power used in the home you are directly saving money you’d spend on your power bill. This reduction in your power bill is the main financial benefit of solar power.
Everything else will be bought up at an agreed rate by your electricity retailer.
At the moment, most feed-in tariffs are between 5 and 10 cents per kWh, with many being about 7 cents. They bounce up and down a lot, for example in previous years they have been up over 20 cents per kWh. Typically, they are always at least 5 cents per kWh.
Once you sign up for a 1KOMMA5° Installation, we immediately submit your grid application to the relevant energy distributor. For systems up to 5kWs, this is a formality. For larger systems it can take a few days or more. Once we receive approval, your installation will be managed by our installation coordinator, who will welcome you to 1KOMMA5° and book an installation date for you. This is generally booked within around two weeks and installation dates are available Monday to Friday, weather permitting.
We endeavour to have your system installed within 2-4 weeks unless you request us to hold for whatever reason. Due to our strict safety policy, we do not install solar systems when it rains. In the event of inclement weather, we will rebook your installation as soon as possible. We always work with your requests as we strongly recommend that someone be home on the day of installation.
Green Loans can be an affordable way to pay for your solar power system and is only available for approved products. As a Clean Energy Council Accredited installer, all our systems qualify.
Green Loans can be used to finance 1KOMMA5° systems from $1,000 to $30,000 over a 2-7 year term. Once you have received a referral from 1KOMMA5°, online approval usually occurs within 1-2 business days. Green Loans have a competitive fixed interest rate that is as low as 7.99% p.a.* | Comparison rate 9.21% p.a.^ Establishment fee of $299 added to the loan amount. $2.70 per week account keeping fee included in repayments.
To be eligible to apply you must:
Be over 18 years old and an Australian resident or citizen
Own or be purchasing a home
Be employed, self-employed, a self-funded retiree; or is receiving the Government Age Pension
Have an Australian driver’s license or Passport
Provide two most recent payslips or 90 days of bank statements
There are a number of good, competitive Green Loan providers – ask us about the options available.
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