Owners enjoy sunny smiles as solar tariff is locked in

GOLDEN rays of sunshine feeding into solar panels have made many homeowners feel great about the big drop in their electricity bills.

It's put plenty of sunny smiles on the faces of Central Queenslanders like Jo Lawrie who long ago buried her power bills.

She read her first power "bill" after installing a solar panel system "a 100 times just because we can't believe how wonderful it is".

Even better, the couple have a lucrative tariff of 44 cents per kW paid for excess power that goes into the electricity grid. The tariff is locked in until 2028.

This "lock in" date is good news for Mackay residents as all customers currently contracted to the 44c FiT will continue to receive their tariff as long as they remain eligible. People that sell their house or turn it into a rental do not remain eligible.

The only people who need to negotiate a solar FiT is those in the south east of the state and currently on the 8c transitional tariff.

No one in the Ergon region will have to negotiate a solar feed-in tariff 

Mrs Lawrie and husband Glen have not had to pay a power bill at their rural Kolijo property for more than two years since installing 20 solar panels on a shed roof that produce 5kW of power a day.

"It cost us about $13,000 to install after a government subsidy. We thought about it for a long time because we were struggling to make ends meet. But when our last power bill was $700 a quarter we decided to go solar," she said.

Their first cheque for solar was $900.