Households in Canberra and ACT should take action before June 30 when the Territory’s feed-in tariff is slashed. For those seeking to beat the deadline, ActewAGL will continue to honor the 1:1 agreement until 30 June 2020 for contracts signed before June 30 this year; so act quick and get your quotes today.

Canberra utility ActewAGL has announced it will be more than halving the capital’s solar feed-in tariff to 7.5c/kWh for new solar connections starting July 1st. The looming cut is likely to spark a rush for rooftop solar installation in Canberra as households rush to beat the June 30 deadline to secure the higher feed in tariff rate.

This follows a similar precedent set by Victoria and NSW where the feed in tariff was previously slashed. The change will see the 1:1 feed-in tariff – where the customer gets the retail rate for exported electricity, cut to 7.5c per kilowatt hour which is slightly above the wholesale electricity price of 7c per kilowatt hour. Under the current scheme the utility credits households with 18 cents per kilowatt hour.

ActewAGL says households will not be much worse off under the new scheme; Ayesha Razzaq from ActewAGL says the average household with a 2 kilowatt system will only be about $20 per year worse off. However, John Grimes from the Australian Solar Council said the new price is unfair.