Government Rebates

To help with the purchase of your new Rinnai Beasley solar hot water system, both the Federal and Victorian governments have various initiatives to significantly reduce the cost of purchasing and installing your system.

There are three main schemes that you may be eligible for, depending on if your system is to be installed in a new home, or if you are replacing an existing gas or electric hot water system.

As these rebates can sometimes be difficult to navigate through and claim, Solar Smart has made it easy for you by offering an upfront ‘point of sale’ discount on the purchase price of the system*.

Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)

The Federal Renewable Energy Certificates scheme is based around system efficiency.  Each REC is equivalent to 1MW/h (or 1,000kW/h) of displaced or saved energy over a ten year period.  Therefore, the more RECs a system is accredited with, the more efficient that system is.  This means the RECs rating can also be used as an efficiency rating and an excellent way of comparing the effectiveness of different brands and types of systems.

All accredited solar hot water systems are eligible to claim RECs for installations in new homes, and for replacement of any type of existing hot water system including old solar hot water systems.  Some conditions apply.  Please refer to www.orer.gov.au for more information.  

RECs are very similar to shares in that they do not have a fixed value, but rise and fall in value based on supply and demand in the market place.  Like the share market, predicting RECs value is full of uncertainty, but by offering a ‘point of sale’ discount at a fixed price (based on the market price at the time of sale), Solar Smart can remove that uncertainty of a RECs price change after  you have purchased your system.  You still have, of course, the option to redeem the RECs yourself after the sale (the ‘point of sale’ discount does not apply with this option) through one of the many RECs traders or through Rinnai directly.  Solar Smart can help to facilitate this option for you.

The Federal Solar Hot Water Rebate Programme

The Federal government also has a second scheme targeted specifically at replacing existing electric hot water systems.  As this type of hot water system is the highest producer of greenhouse gas emissions, there is extra incentive to have these replaced.  This programme offers a flat $1,000.00 rebate but is means tested. Only households earning $100,000.00 per year or less are eligible.  Please refer to www.greenhouse.gov.au for more information.

Sustainability Victoria’s Rebate Programme

The Victorian government has a programme specifically targeted at replacing gas or solid fuel (e.g. wood fired) hot water systems.  This offers rebates of up to $1,500.00 and is also efficiency based, although not as accurately as the RECs scheme.

Please refer to www.sustainability.vic.gov.au for more information.

  1. *‘Point of sale’ discount applies to the Federal Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) scheme and Sustainability Victoria’s solar hot water rebate fund.  RECs value is calculated at the time of purchase.  The Federal Solar Hot Water Rebate Programme can ONLY be claimed by the end user and therefore cannot be offered as an upfront ‘point of sale’ discount.

1 $3,478.00 rebate based on replacement of an existing gas hot water system that has been installed for more than 12 months in RECs zone 4 i.e. Melbourne.  Based on 43 RECs @ $46.00 each, plus Sustainability Victoria’s $1,500.00 rebate.  System is a 315ltr, 3 Excelsior panel with an S26 gas booster.