Climate Change Minister Greg Combet announced late this morning that the government will be phasing out the solar credits multiplier of 2 STCs per megawatt-hour to just one six months ahead of schedule on January 1, 2013.

Currently STCs are trading at around $32. With the current multiplier of 2, for a 1.5 kW system in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide this equates to a rebate of almost $2000 and in Melbourne, it’s about $1700. Even if the small scale renewables target is not changed and the STC price consequently rose to $38, the level of the rebate for such a system will drop by around $700 in Melbourne and $800 for the other mainland capitals. However a spokesperson for Minister Combet informed Climate Spectator that the STP would need to be revisited by the regulator in light of this decision meaning it is likely to be reduced. This could mean that the STC price does not noticeably rise above current levels.

Source: Climate Spectator