Tasmania Solar Feed-in & Aurora Energy: The Regulated Rate Explained

Tasmania does something most of mainland Australia does not: it sets a regulated minimum for what retailers must pay you for solar you export to the grid. That takes some of the guesswork out of comparing offers — but it also means the headline feed-in number is lower than many people hope, and how you use your solar matters far more than the rate you're paid. Here's how the system actually works as at October 2026, and where the real savings sit.

Who's who: TasNetworks vs Aurora Energy

Two organisations show up on your solar journey in Tasmania, and they do different jobs:

• TasNetworks owns the poles, wires and your connection. They set the export limit and handle the technical connection of your system — the single-phase export limit in Tasmania is 10 kW, which is generous compared with the 5 kW common elsewhere.
• Aurora Energy is the retailer — the company that bills you, charges you for electricity, and pays you for exports.

You buy and sell power through Aurora (or another retailer), but the wires belong to TasNetworks.

The regulated feed-in tariff

The Office of the Tasmanian Economic Regulator (OTTER) sets a regulated minimum feed-in tariff. As at October 2026 that minimum is 9.276 c/kWh (set from 1 July 2026). Retailers can't pay less than this; in practice most solar feed-in offers in Tasmania sit in roughly the 8–10 c/kWh range.

Because it's regulated, the feed-in rate isn't where retailers compete hard — the more important numbers are the usage rates and daily supply charge on your plan. Feed-in rates are reviewed each financial year, so confirm the current rate on your bill rather than assuming it's unchanged.

Why Tasmania is different: winter peaking

Most of Australia peaks in summer, when air-conditioners run at midday under a strong sun. Tasmania is the opposite — demand peaks in winter, driven by heating, exactly when solar output is lowest and daylight is shortest.

This flips the usual advice. Aurora's Time-of-Use tariff (Tariff 93) reflects it:

• Winter peak: Mon–Fri 7–10am and 4–9pm
• Summer peak: Mon–Fri 8–11am and 5–10pm
• Weekends: off-peak

Those winter peaks fall in the morning and evening — before and after the sun does most of its work. Solar can't directly cover your biggest, coldest, most expensive demand periods. Confirm your own tariff from your bill, because not every household is on Tariff 93.

The catch: solar might not pay the way you expect

A Tasmanian rooftop generates roughly 1,150 kWh per kW installed each year — meaningfully less than sunnier mainland states (around 1,400 kWh/kW). Combine lower yield with a modest feed-in rate and a winter peak that solar can't reach, and the economics are real but less dramatic than the brochures suggest.

A few honest points:

• Oversizing for export rarely pays. At ~9 c/kWh, surplus power you can't use is earning very little. Sizing to match your daytime consumption usually beats a giant array feeding a cheap export rate.
• The midday free-power window doesn't apply here. The federal Solar Sharer scheme (an 11am–2pm free window on eligible plans) is not available in Tasmania in 2026. A 2027 extension is being consulted on, but it's unconfirmed — and in a winter-peaking state a midday window is less valuable anyway.
• No Tasmanian state solar rebate. There's no TAS cash rebate for panels and no state energy-efficiency certificate scheme. The upfront discount you receive comes from the federal Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (STCs), already baked into the "after STC" price you're quoted.

How to actually get the most from solar in TAS

Since self-consumption beats export, the strategy is about shifting your use into the sunny hours:

• Run heavy loads at midday: dishwasher, washing machine, pool pump and — crucially in Tasmania — pre-heating. Timer-controlled hot water and heating that run while the sun is up turn cheap solar into stored warmth for the evening peak.
• Consider a heat-pump hot water system. It's an efficient way to "store" solar as hot water, and heat pumps are eligible for federal STCs.
• Think carefully about a battery. A battery lets you push solar into the expensive morning and evening winter peaks — which is precisely when Tasmania needs it. The federal Cheaper Home Batteries program offers an STC-based discount (indicatively around A$250–300 per usable kWh, which floats with the STC price), with the STC factor at 6.8 per usable kWh from May to December 2026 before stepping down. Even so, typical battery payback runs around 8 years — worth modelling against your actual load, not assuming.

Whether any of this stacks up depends on your bill, your tariff, your roof and how your household uses power through a Tasmanian winter. That's exactly the kind of thing worth modelling before you spend.

We don't sell panels, batteries or plans — we're paid a fixed fee to tell you the truth. Sometimes that's "solar's a solid call, size it to your daytime use." Sometimes it's "at your usage and that feed-in rate, a battery won't pay back before it wears out." Either way, the advice is the product.

Figures in this guide are current at the date of publication and indicative only — rebate and certificate values change over time (federal battery certificates step down each January and July), and state schemes are amended often. Confirm the current numbers for your situation before you commit. This is general information, not personal financial advice.