Did you know that the government incentive to install solar goes up and down depending on how many people are installing?
The incentive was designed to “self-regulate” the market.
When a lot of people are installing solar, the value of the incentive falls. This increases the cost to the consumer and slows down the market.
When fewer people are installing, the incentive increases, reducing costs and encouraging more people to install.
The incentive gets passed on by solar installers to you with a discount off the cost of installing.
Currently, with the market slowing, the value of the incentive has crept higher. In real terms, households that install solar are now eligible to receive up to [maxrebates]* off the up-front price of the system.
| System size | 3kW | 4kW | 5kW | 6.6kW |
| 2017 – After June | $1,682 | $2,233 | $2,784 | $3,863 |
| 2017 – Before June (STC price at $38/kW) | $2,204 | $2,926 | $3,648 | $4,826 |
| 2016 | $2,356 | $3,116 | $3,914 | $5,168 |
**Incentive estimate based on calculations for STC zone 3 at STC price of $29/kW. The amount of STCs received depends on the location of your installation. The price of STCs is calculated based on market value and is subject to change. Check online to get the most accurate price.
There are no guarantees this will continue.
Looking back just a few years ago, huge demand for solar installations caused the value of the solar incentive to drop to less than half of the current price!
The result was a significant increase in the cost to install solar for consumers.
So… Could this happen again?
You may have heard a lot of news recently about solar batteries and Tesla’s Powerwall. This has thrust solar back into the limelight, which will most likely continue into the near future.
The simple fact is that when solar is in the news, more people start installing.
Now, we can’t say for certain that the value of the incentive will decrease again this year. But, what we can say for certain is that it won’t be getting any higher than it is right now.
If you’ve been considering installing solar, you couldn’t pick a much better time than now.
Fortunately, you can get started right here with us.
Here at Solar Market, we have helped over 188,000 consumers like yourself find out if solar is right for them, by getting 3 quotes from solar installers.
