When we first had our solar system installed after moving into our house here in Australia, one of the big “pushes” was the face that we would be paid for any excess energy that we produced. This was the big “selling feature” in Australia by the government and all the solar retailers.
Well, turns out it was a “saying when an agreement is tricked and reversed”
A hidden “Sun tax” slugging Aussies who have made the switch to solar has been slammed by energy advocates as “madness” and a “rip-off”, accusing energy companies of “wanting to charge people” making energy from sunlight.
Distributors in some Australian states have moved in the sneaky tariff, known colloquially as a Sun or solar tax, as households begin to embrace the shift to renewables in the hopes of power bill relief.
But the new measures will result in those households being slugged for sending the solar energy they generate back to the electricity grid during peak times – something providers hope will encourage households to store their self-generated power and use it, rather than hoping for a credit if it is exported back to the grid.
A Sun tax refers to a new export tariff for customers using solar, part of a two-way pricing structure where users are effectively penalised for exporting solar-generated energy when the network is overloaded – such as in the middle of the day.
(source)
Already since we have seen the amount that we are paid for electricity that we feed into the grid cut to a pittance of what it was. And now they are planning to charge us for any electricity that we feed into the grid during the middle of the day, when the sun is at it’s peak.
The solution that the energy companies suggest are for consumers to spend $9,000 – $25,000 for a battery backup, which most people simply can’t afford!
In addition to some retailers now charging users when they export power, in the last few months they have increased the supply fee by 50%! Since the supply fee is fixed, users have no choice but to pay it, regardless of how much power they use.