Living report — rebuilt from live plan data
The solar feed-in tariff value report 2026
The feed-in tariff has quietly stopped being the number that matters. Across the residential plans we track, the electricity a solar household avoids buying is now worth many times the credit it earns exporting the same kilowatt hour — which means shopping for solar on the headline export rate is shopping on the wrong figure.
By James Baker, founder of EnergyPlans, an Australian energy comparison platform. Last updated 16 August 2026.
2c
Median feed-in tariff across the states we track
57%
Of tariffs pay 2c/kWh or less for exports
9× to 38×
More value in using a kWh than exporting it
01. The collapse
Feed-in tariffs were designed to accelerate rooftop solar uptake, and they worked so well they undermined their own economics. So much solar now floods the grid in the middle of the day that the wholesale value of an exported kilowatt hour at noon is frequently near zero, occasionally negative. Retailers have repriced accordingly. Victoria abolished its mandatory minimum feed-in tariff from 1 July 2025, removing the last regulatory floor in the country.
Here is where advertised rates have landed. We report the median rather than the average because a small number of heavily capped promotional tariffs pull the mean far above anything a household actually receives.
| State | Median FiT | Average FiT | Highest advertised | Typical usage rate | Plans at 2c or less |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SA | 1c | 7c | 44c | 38.2c | 62%85 of 137 |
| VIC | 1c | 1.4c | 12c | 24.8c | 93%685 of 735 |
| NSW | 3c | 3.6c | 12c | 30.2c | 19%131 of 677 |
| QLD | 3c | 6.6c | 44c | 25.6c | 47%107 of 228 |
All rates in cents per kWh including GST, from advertised residential plan data. Ordered by median feed-in tariff, lowest first.
Cents per kWh exported. The median is the middle offer — half of all plans pay less.
02. The headline mirage
Look at SA. The average advertised feed-in tariff is 7c/kWh, but the median is 1c/kWh — the middle offer pays a fraction of the average. That gap is not noise. It is a handful of very high advertised rates, usually capped at a few kilowatt hours a day, dragging the mean upward while the typical offer sits at the bottom.
The mechanism is straightforward once you look at both sides of the plan. A high advertised export rate is routinely paired with an above-average usage rate, so the headline is funded by what you pay to import. Since a typical solar household imports far more than it exports over a year, the trade is usually a bad one. Here are the highest advertised feed-in tariffs we currently track, each shown beside the usage rate on the very same plan.
| Retailer | Plan | State | Advertised FiT | Usage rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tango Energy | Home Select | SA | 44c | 41.2c |
| Alinta Energy | HomeDeal Flow - Single Rate | SA | 44c | 38.1c |
| Alinta Energy | HomeDeal Flow - Single Rate + CL | SA | 44c | 38.1c |
| Origin Energy | Origin Basic | SA | 44c | 38.1c |
| Nectr | Nectr GreenPower + CL 1 - August 2026 | SA | 44c | 37.7c |
| Nectr | Nectr GreenPower + CL 2 - August 2026 | SA | 44c | 37.7c |
| Nectr | Nectr GreenPower - August 2026 | SA | 44c | 37.7c |
| 1st Energy | 1st Quartz - Single Rate + Controlled Load | SA | 44c | 36.7c |
Highest advertised feed-in tariffs on qualifying residential plans, ranked by the usage rate on the same plan. Advertised feed-in tariffs are frequently capped — commonly to a set number of kilowatt hours per day — so the headline rate does not apply to every exported unit. Check the plan's basic plan information document for its cap.
03. Self-consumption now dominates
This is the finding that should change how solar households behave. A kilowatt hour of your own generation has two possible fates: you export it for the feed-in tariff, or you use it and avoid buying a kilowatt hour at the usage rate. Those two numbers are no longer close.
| State | Earn by exporting | Save by using it | Self-use is worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| SA | 1c/kWh | 38.2c/kWh | 38× more |
| VIC | 1c/kWh | 24.8c/kWh | 25× more |
| NSW | 3c/kWh | 30.2c/kWh | 10× more |
| QLD | 3c/kWh | 25.6c/kWh | 9× more |
Export column is the median advertised feed-in tariff; save column is the average peak usage rate across qualifying residential plans in that state. Where the median feed-in tariff is zero, self-consumption is the only value available.
Cents per kWh. The blue bar is what you earn exporting; the gold bar is what you avoid paying by using the same kilowatt hour yourself.
04. What this means for your bill
Shop on the usage rate, not the feed-in rate
The usage rate applies to every kilowatt hour you import, all year, including every night. The feed-in tariff applies only to your surplus, and often only up to a daily cap. If you have to trade one against the other, the usage rate wins for almost every household.
Shift consumption into daylight hours
Dishwasher, washing machine, pool pump, hot water and EV charging run in the middle of the day are the highest-return change available to a solar household. You are converting a low-value export into a high-value avoided import.
Reconsider battery payback
A battery stores a kilowatt hour worth the feed-in tariff and releases one worth the usage rate. As the gap between those two numbers widens, the arbitrage improves — the falling feed-in tariff has quietly strengthened the case for storage, not weakened it.
Treat capped headline offers sceptically
A high advertised feed-in tariff with a daily cap and an above-average usage rate is a marketing structure, not a saving. Model it at your own export and import volumes before switching for the headline.
Related reading
- Current solar feed-in tariffs by state — the rates on offer right now, retailer by retailer.
- Australian Electricity Price Index — how much households overpay on the default offer, by network zone.
- OVO Energy review — a retailer whose solar rates and free-daytime windows illustrate the trade-off above.
- Media and data hub — citable figures and contact details for journalists.
Methodology
Every figure on this page is computed when the page rebuilds, from retailer plan data published under the Consumer Data Right, covering 6,895 active plans from 28 retailers. Nothing here is hand-entered. Rates current as at 16 August 2026; reference prices effective 1 July 2026 (AER DMO 2026-27 & ESC VDO 2026-27).
Scope. Single-rate residential market plans with a published flat usage rate and a stated feed-in tariff. We exclude wholesale pass-through plans, whose published rate is an estimate rather than a price, and offers with eligibility conditions such as mandatory direct debit or membership, because their advertised rate is conditional. This is the same candidate set we price plans from everywhere else on the site, so these usage rates reconcile with our plan costings.
Why the median. We report the median feed-in tariff as the headline statistic. A small number of promotional tariffs advertise very high export rates that are capped to a limited number of kilowatt hours per day; those offers pull the mean well above what a typical household receives, so an average would overstate the market. We publish the average alongside the median so the size of that distortion is visible.
Limitations. Feed-in tariff caps, tiered export structures and time-varying export rates are not captured in the single advertised figure, so headline rates should be read as a ceiling rather than an effective rate. Usage rates are averaged across distributor zones within a state and will differ from any individual address. State coverage follows the network zones we hold regulator benchmark data for.
EnergyPlans is an Australian energy comparison platform. We are not owned by a retailer. We may earn a commission if you switch through us, which never changes the prices you see.
Free to republish
The data and charts on this page are free to republish with attribution to EnergyPlans.com.au and a link to this page.
- Methodology: see the section above.
- State or zone breakdowns: available on request.
- Media contact: James Baker, Founder, EnergyPlans — media@energyplans.com.au.
How we make money
We track 6,895 plans from 28 retailers using public Consumer Data Right data. That is how we can publish the cheapest plan in your zone even when it is not one we can sign you up to. Switching through EnergyPlans is handled by our commercial partner, whose panel is smaller than the market we track, and we are paid a commission when you switch. The cheapest plan we publish may not be available through us, and you can always go direct to the retailer. The Australian Government’s free comparison sites, Energy Made Easy and Victorian Energy Compare, list every plan available in your area.
Last updated: 16 August 2026.