On 1 July 2025 Victoria became the first state to abolish its regulated minimum feed-in tariff. Retailers can now legally pay you as little as zero for your exported solar.
In practice most of them still pay something. Here is what Victorian solar owners are actually being paid in 2026, and what to do about it.
At a glance
Quick answer: Victoria has no minimum feed-in tariff. The Essential Services Commission stopped setting one on 1 July 2025, and the only legal floor now is 0 c/kWh. Despite that, most major retailers still pay roughly 6 to 8 c/kWh on their main residential plans in 2026, with the wider market spanning about 0 to 10 c/kWh. Because there is no benchmark to anchor to, the rate you get now depends entirely on which plan you are on.
What changed on 1 July 2025
The Essential Services Commission used to set a minimum feed-in tariff every year that every Victorian retailer had to meet. Following an amendment to the Electricity Industry Act 2000, that obligation was removed and no minimum has applied since 1 July 2025.
For context, the last flat minimum, for 2024-25, was 3.3 c/kWh. Proposed 2025-26 minimums were decided but never applied because of the legislative change. Retailers may now set any rate at or above zero.
What Victorian retailers actually pay in 2026
Deregulation did not collapse rates to zero. Market analysis through 2026 shows most of the major retailers, including AGL, EnergyAustralia, Origin and Red Energy, still paying around 6 to 8 c/kWh flat on mainstream residential plans.
The spread is wide though. Indicative flat rates across the Victorian market run from about 1 to 10 c/kWh, and genuine 0 to 1 c/kWh plans do exist. Higher headline feed-in rates often come with higher usage rates or daily charges, so the feed-in number alone never tells you which plan is cheapest overall.
What Victorian solar owners should do
With exports paying single-digit cents and grid power costing several times that, the value has moved from selling your solar to using it. Shifting your big loads into daylight hours is the cheapest thing you can do, and costs nothing.
It is also why batteries get more attention in Victoria than they used to. Storing at 7 c/kWh of foregone export to avoid buying at 30 c/kWh-plus is a very different calculation to the one Victorians faced when the minimum was higher.
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Steve Hill
Steve Hill is a renewable-energy executive with a deep background in Australian solar and energy efficiency, spanning consulting, project management and business development. He founded Elite Smart Energy Solutions, a Clean Energy Council Approved Retailer focused on smarter, lower-cost energy for homes and businesses. Steve contributes to Energy Matters, one of Australia's longest-running solar publications, and has appeared on its Road to Zero podcast. He helps Australian homeowners cut through the noise on rebates, batteries and going solar.