The Australian Government supports the deployment of renewable energy in Australia's electricity supply through the Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme. The RET guarantees a market for additional renewable energy generation, using a mechanism of tradeable Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).

Solar Credits is a mechanism within this scheme that provides additional support to households, businesses and community groups that install small-scale solar PV electricity systems by multiplying the number of RECs able to be created for eligible installations. More RECs equates to a larger rebate.

Each solar power system installed essentially earns a quantity of RECs, and these are typically credited against the upfront purchase price of a new system reducing the cost.

For systems installed from 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012, the Solar Credits multiplier is three, and the government expects this to reduce by a factor of one each financial year until the standard rate of RECs creation (a multiplier of one) applies for systems installed from 1 July 2013.

The Governments aim is to reduce support of the Solar Credits scheme over time, reflecting reductions in technology costs. Solar electricity is eventually expected to be at paritiy with conventional fossil fuel generated electricity costs without any reliance on rebates.

The next proposed rebate drop is expected from June 30, 2012. However the Federal Goverment has a history of changing solar rebate policy at short notice. In mid 2011, the multiplier was unexpectedly reduced by a factor of 2, from 5x to 3x - and a month earlier than expected.

So what's the bottom line? Those thinking of going solar, should do so now to maximise their solar rebate & obtain the best price. Systems will need to be installed by June 30 at the very least, possibly earlier if the government chooses to reduce the rebate earlier. Installation lead times for most providers mean that orders will need to placed well before these dates.

Learn more about solar power and solar specials.

The Queensland Government has announced it will freeze local residential electricity hikes for the next financial year, but power bills will still increase due to the carbon tax. The 12 month initiative commencing next financial year is likely to cost QLD Tax payers $60 million, but is part of the governments commitment to help lower the cost of living for families.

Queensland still offers Australia's most generous feed-in tariff for solar, making the switch to solar power very attractive. Residents & Businesses can reduce or completely eliminate their power bills by producing their own electricity.

Find out more about solar or ask for a free home consultation.

IPART - the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal have just released their draft report on changes to regulated electricity prices.

The report forecasts an average 16.4% increase in NSW electricity prices as of July 1 2012. This has been reflected in recent media activity with most other states prediciting similar annual increases.

The predominant drivers were Network costs, Retailer costs & Carbon pricing. Their report also acknowledges the pressure these increases place on households - "IPART recognises that the percentage rise in average electricity bills is likely to outstrip the percentage rise in average household income and therefore many households will spend an increasing proportion of their income on electricity bills, particularly those in low income, high consumption households. IPART strongly supports measures that will help to limit electricity prices increases while maintaining the viability of the electricity retail industry."

Interestingly Green Scheme's which encompass various wind & solar programs were shown to have little or no impact on electricity rises (see "Green Schemes" on graphic above). In fact electricity generation costs had dropped by 2% which some commentators attribute to the "merit order effect" from the growing volume of solar installations which are starting to influence lower wholesale electricity costs.

Learn more about eliminating your power bill with solar and how solar is now more afforable than ever.

The gap between traditional fossil fuel and renewable energy continues to close. We hear about rising electricity prices in the news almost daily. It's been shown that a majority of these increases are a result of aging network infrastructure and the need for energy retailers to recoup upgrade costs. A smaller portion can also be attributed to existing renewable energy schemes and the forthcoming Carbon Tax. Either way, it's clear that traditional electricity costs are only heading in one direction - up. In contrast renewable energy costs are also heading in one direction - down. This means the parity gap between fossil fuel generated power and that generated from clean energy sources such as solar are closing. The cost per watt to manufacture solar panels for instance, has dropped dramatically over the last 5-10 years, and will continue to do so as panel efficiency and mass production increase. Depending on where you live, the cost to power your home with solar energy may already be comparable (or less) than electricity purchased via a traditional retailer. Solar Shop Australia are now making the switch to solar power even more attractive with some great offers on their premium panels. Pricing on selected Japanese Solar Frontier & Kaneka systems have almost halved in some cases. These premium systems offer increased heat and shade tolerance over traditional technologies (e.g. better energy yield) and their sleek dark glass panels look great on any roof. If you're tired of paying high electricity bills, now is a great time to switch to solar, end high power bills forever, and do something nice for the environment too! Click here to learn more about Solar Frontier & Kaneka.

Recent changes to the feed-in tariff scheme have amended the amount that can be earned by customers that install eligible solar photo-voltaic (PV) generators.

Customers with eligible PV generators are entitled to receive an additional premium, which has been determined by the Essential Services Commission. The amount reflects the fair and reasonable value to a retailer of electricity fed into the network, and all retailers selling electricity to eligible customers are required to pay the amount.

The Commission has released its Final Price Determination for the solar Feed-in Tariff (FiT) Premium to apply from 27 January 2012 – 30 June 2014.

The FiT Premium, which is credited on solar customers’ electricity bills when they generate more electricity than they use, reflects the fair and reasonable value of fed-in electricity to electricity retailers.

The Commission’s Final Determination is to set the FiT Premium as follows:

Feed-in Tariff Premium (nominal cents per kWh and GST exclusive)

All electricity retailers are required to provide at least this minimum FiT Premium to solar customers but may choose to credit a higher amount.

Solar customers are entitled to receive both the FiT Premium from electricity retailers and an additional credit from the electricity distributor, ETSA Utilities. Under the feed-in legislation, ETSA Utilities must pay eligible solar customers 44c/kWh of fed-in electricity (for those that connected, or obtained ETSA Utilities' approval to connect, the PV unit prior to 1 October 2011). From 1 October 2011, those solar customers that connected, or received approval to connect, the PV unit will receive a credit from ETSA Utilities of 16c/kWh.

Under the amended legislation, those receiving 44c/kWh also get the FiT premium determined by the Commission, which results in a total FiT amount of 51.1c/kWh from 27 January 2012. This will increase to about 53c/kWh from 1 July 2012. The total FiT amount is over 7 times the current value of wholesale electricity produced by the systems, and over 4 times the value of electricity being generated by wind farms (approximately 11c/kWh)

For further details & PDF Fact sheets visit Essential Services Commission of South Australia Web Site.