There’s great news for small businesses looking to cut their power bills and boost their green credentials. A new solar panels rebate – worth up to $3,500 – has just been launched by the Victorian Government through Solar Victoria’s ‘Solar for Business Program’.
Is my business eligible?
This rebate is available to businesses who own their premises as well as those who rent. There are a number of eligibility criteria* including:
- You must operate from premises that are non-residential and located in Victoria.
- You must employ at least one person, not including the business owner, and less than 20 people.
If you run your business from home, you won’t be eligible for the Business Solar rebate. However, you may be able to apply for a solar panels rebate through the Solar Homes program – worth up to $1,850. There’s also an interest-free loan in addition to the solar panels rebate for up to the same amount. This means your upfront, out-of-pocket costs could be reduced by up to $3,700.
9-5 businesses ideal
At Specialized Solar, we find that businesses that operate 9-5 are amongst the best candidates for solar. That’s because they are using the solar power from their system during the daytime instead of having to buy it from the grid. Using solar, rather than exporting it, is where the greatest bill savings are to be made. Grid power is around 20-25 cents per kilowatt hour whilst the solar energy generated by your system is free.
Getting the best return
Your solar power does have a value of course. That’s the amount you could get for any excess solar power you may be able to export to the grid. However that ‘feed in credit’ is going down again from the 1st of July 2021 – so your solar exports will be worth even less.
The bottom line: With electricity prices going in only one direction – and that’s NOT downloads – there’s now even less reason to export your solar and more reason to use it.
Sizing it right
A correctly sized solar system that maximises the amount of ‘self-consumption’ of the solar power you generate is the system that’s going to give you the fastest payback. Without getting too geeky about it, what we mean is that we’d be aiming to ensure that your business was able to use at least 40-50% of the solar power generated by the system in your day-to-day operations, offsetting the need to purchase that power from the grid.
To design a system that achieves this goal, we start by analysing the interval data from your electricity distributor. This tells us exactly how much electricity you use at any time of the day or night over any time period. With this information, we can get the exact data we need to size your system to perfectly suit your energy usage and ensure the best financial outcome for your business.
Next steps
The first step in applying for the Solar for Business rebate is to get a quote from an approved solar retailer.
Specialized Solar is an approved retailer for the rebate programs run by Solar Victoria.
To talk to one of our business solar specialists, call us on 03 9117 6185 or request a quote by completing our online form.
Once the quote has been finalised, we upload it to the Solar Victoria Portal and from there you can complete your application for the rebate.
Our customer service team can support you with the rebate application process and talk you through what is required, although of course Solar Victoria is the only organisation that can determine whether or not your business is eligible for the rebate.
Don’t delay – start realising the benefits of solar for your business. It’s a smart move.
*Full eligibility criteria at solar.vic.gov.au
