So yesterday morning, I had this post all ready to publish, and then Gavin beat me to it. Oh well…. that’ll serve me right for wandering off to get a coffee!

With the recent changes to the solar panel rebate (surely only a Government could make it this complicated?), the Australian solar industry is having a hard time getting a decent head start against its coal powered competitors; so a petition has been launched calling for the introduction of a national feed-in tariff.

What’s a feed-in tariff? It’s a rebate awarded to a household for the electricity it generates from its grid connected solar panels. Essentially, an ongoing reward for installing them.

There’s two models of tariff – net & gross. The net model currently favoured by the individual states that have a tariff (VIC, SA, NT, QLD, TAS) only rebates for the surplus the house feeds back to the grid. As Gavin shows with his quick calculations based on the Victorian program in this post, that’s about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

The gross feed-in tariff sees each household rebated instead for all the electricity it generates. The ACT is currently the only supporter of this model. (WA & NSW are yet to decide.)

So, why is a gross feed in tariff better? Well, we Australians are a simple lot really, dangle a carrot and we’ll take it. Dangle a bigger carrot, and we’ll take that instead. And put simply, a gross feed in tariff will produce a bigger carrot.

The opportunity for a bigger carrot higher rebate will create more demand, benefiting both the domestic solar power industry (by helping kick start a ‘green’ economy, thus providing jobs and job security), and Australia (by reducing our reliance on fossil fuel generated electricity, thus reducing our carbon emissions). It’ll also help us meet those 2020 renewable energy targets (PDF).

If you’d like to join those wanting to see Australia launch a national gross feed-in tariff (which as at an update of this morning has collected more than 4000 names in under 7 days), head over to feedintariff.com.au.

What are your thoughts about a feed in tariff? Should it be net or gross? Should it be National or State administered? Leave us a comment below.

(Update: As at Feb 5, the petition is now nearly 7000 names long. Great work, people!)