There are two separate things people call "the solar rebate", and they behave completely differently. Getting them straight is the difference between a realistic payback estimate and a fantasy one.
The upfront certificate discount
The federal scheme issues small-scale technology certificates based on system size, your climate zone and how many years remain in the scheme. In practice you never touch them — you assign them to the installer and they show up as a discount on your invoice. Two consequences follow:
- The discount shrinks a little every year as the scheme winds down.
- A bigger system earns proportionally more, which is part of why oversizing is cheap.
State and territory schemes
On top of the federal discount, individual states run their own programs — interest-free loans, battery subsidies, targeted rebates for low-income or regional households. These change often and usually have eligibility conditions around income, property value or whether you already have solar. Check your state's energy department directly before budgeting around one.
Feed-in tariffs: the part that keeps falling
A feed-in tariff is what your retailer pays for the electricity you export. A decade ago these were generous. Today they are typically a few cents per kWh, and in some networks the middle of the day is worth close to nothing because everyone is exporting at once.
This is the single most important shift for anyone modelling savings: self-consumption beats export. Every kWh you use yourself saves you the full retail rate. Every kWh you export earns you a fraction of it.
What that means for payback
- Shifting your dishwasher, pool pump and washing machine to daylight hours is free money.
- A household that's home during the day pays a system off years faster than one that isn't.
- Time-of-use tariffs can make evening usage expensive — which is where batteries start to make sense.
Most quotes include a savings projection. Ask which feed-in tariff it assumes. If the number is above what your retailer currently pays, the projection is optimistic.