Tasmania Solar Feed-in & Aurora Energy Explained

Tasmania is unusual. In most of Australia, electricity demand peaks on hot summer afternoons and a midday solar surge is a big deal. In Tasmania, demand peaks in winter — cold mornings and evenings when the heating is running hardest and the sun is weakest. That single fact changes how solar pays for you here, and it's why copying advice written for Queensland or Victoria can quietly cost you money. This guide walks through the regulated feed-in tariff, what Aurora Energy actually pays, and the practical moves that lift your return.

Who's who: TasNetworks and Aurora Energy

Two organisations matter for your solar. TasNetworks owns and runs the poles, wires and the connection to your home — it's the network. Aurora Energy is the retailer that bills you and buys your exported solar. On top of that sits OTTER (the Office of the Tasmanian Economic Regulator), which sets a regulated minimum price for the electricity you export back to the grid.

That regulated minimum is the key difference from most states, where retailers can set feed-in rates as low as they like. In Tasmania there's a floor.

The regulated feed-in tariff

From 1 July 2026, OTTER's regulated minimum feed-in tariff is 9.276 cents per kilowatt-hour. That's what you're paid for each unit of solar you send back to the grid. It's reviewed each financial year, so always confirm the current figure before you rely on it.

To put that in national context, retailer feed-in rates around the country typically sit somewhere between roughly 8 and 10 cents in Tasmania — so the regulated minimum is genuinely competitive rather than a token amount. The catch is what it means for the maths, which we'll get to.

Why exporting is the wrong goal

Here's the beat that no one selling panels will lead with. You get paid 9.276c for every unit you export — but you avoid paying the full retail rate for every unit you use yourself instead of buying from the grid. Retail electricity costs far more than the feed-in tariff. So a unit of solar consumed in your own home is worth substantially more to you than the same unit sold back.

That means the goal isn't to build the biggest system that exports the most. The goal is to use as much of your own solar as possible, and only export the leftovers. This is called self-consumption, and it's the single biggest lever on your return.

• Run the dishwasher, washing machine and dryer in the middle of the day, not overnight.
• Heat your hot water on a timer during daylight hours if you have an electric or heat-pump system.
• Pre-heat (or pre-cool) the house while the sun's up rather than at peak time.

Working with Aurora's Time-of-Use tariff

If you're on Aurora's Time-of-Use (Tariff 93), the peak windows are different summer to winter — and reflect Tasmania's winter-peaking demand:

Season	Peak periods (Mon–Fri)
Winter	7–10am and 4–9pm
Summer	8–11am and 5–10pm
Weekends	Off-peak all day

Notice the problem for solar: the winter peaks are early morning and evening — precisely when your panels produce little or nothing. Your solar does its best work in the middle of the day, which on Time-of-Use is off-peak. So the strategy is to shift big loads into daylight to soak up cheap self-generated power, and keep usage low during those morning and evening peaks. Confirm which tariff you're actually on from your bill before assuming — not every household is on Tariff 93.

A reality check on payback in Tasmania

Tasmania's solar yield is lower than most of the mainland — roughly 1,150 kWh per kW of panels each year, compared with around 1,400 in sunnier states. Less sun means less generation, which lengthens payback. Indicative installed prices after the federal STC discount here run roughly $5,500–$9,000 for a 6.6kW system and $8,000–$12,000 for 10kW. Single-phase homes can typically export up to 10kW.

And here's the honest catch on batteries. The federal Cheaper Home Batteries program offers an STC-based discount (indicatively around $252 per usable kWh in 2026, which floats with the certificate price and steps down over time). There is no Tasmanian state battery rebate to stack on top. With winter-peaking demand and a regulated feed-in tariff that's already reasonable, the case for a battery in Tasmania is often weaker than the marketing suggests — typical payback sits around 8 years, and for many households it will be longer. A battery might genuinely not pay for you, and that's a legitimate outcome to plan around, not a failure.

One more thing to note: the federal Solar Sharer free-power window is not available in Tasmania in 2026. A 2027 extension is being consulted on — but because the state is winter-peaking, a midday free window is worth less here than elsewhere anyway.

We don't sell panels, batteries or plans, and we don't take a commission from anyone who does. Our only job is to run your actual numbers — your bill, your tariff, your roof — and tell you plainly whether solar or a battery pays for you in Tasmania, or whether it doesn't.

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.