Solar and Your Tasmanian Tariff: T31, T41, T93 and T97 Compared

For most Tasmanian households, the tariff question has a surprisingly simple answer: solar saves the most when you use it yourself, and any of the main tariffs can work well if you do. Because the regulated feed-in tariff (9.276 cents per kWh from 1 July 2026) is only around a third of what most homes pay for grid power (roughly 28–30 cents per kWh), the real decision is less “which tariff?” and more “how do I use more of my own solar?” Here’s how Tasmania’s four residential tariffs — T31, T41, T93 and T97 — actually compare.

What’s the difference between T31, T41, T93 and T97?

Tasmania has four residential tariffs in common use, and the first thing to know is which era yours belongs to.

T31 and T41 are the older pair, closed to new installations since 30 June 2024 though many homes remain on them. T31 is the flat rate for general light and power — lights, power points, appliances. T41 is a separately metered, lower flat rate for hard-wired heating and hot water circuits. Neither cares what time of day you use power.

T93 is the default today. Since 1 July 2024 every new or upgraded residential connection in Tasmania is assigned to it. The whole house runs on one time-of-use tariff: a higher peak rate on weekday mornings and evenings, a lower rate the rest of the time.

T97 is the newest, and it’s opt-in. It’s built for homes with solar, a battery or an EV, and it’s the only one with a super off-peak rate.

	T31 & T41 (legacy flat)	T93 (default ToU)	T97 (CER ToU)
Status	Closed to new connections; existing homes may stay	Default for all new connections	Opt-in, if your retailer offers it
How you’re charged	T31 flat for the house; T41 a cheaper flat rate for wired heating/hot water	One rate structure for the whole home: peak and off-peak	Peak, off-peak, and a super off-peak window
Peak times	None — same rate all day	Weekdays 7–10am and 4–9pm (8–11am and 5–10pm in daylight saving)	Weekdays 7–10am and 4–10pm
Cheapest window	None	Off-peak: middle of weekdays, nights, all weekend	Super off-peak: midnight–4am, every day
Suits	Simple billing; steady all-day usage	Most homes; solar sits in the off-peak window	Homes with a battery or EV to charge overnight

Which tariff works best with rooftop solar?

Solar helps on all of them, because solar’s value comes from self-consumption, and the feed-in tariff is paid separately per unit exported regardless of which import tariff you’re on. The best tariff is the one that matches when your household actually uses power.

On the legacy T31, every solar unit you use at home avoids the same flat rate, whether that’s the morning kettle or evening cooking. One catch: a hot water or heating circuit sitting on T41 is wired separately, so your daytime solar doesn’t automatically flow into it.

On T93, the middle of the day — when your panels are producing hardest — is off-peak anyway, so solar offsets cheaper power than it would at peak. That’s not a mark against it; it’s simply why solar and a battery work so well together on a time-of-use tariff, with the battery covering the expensive evening.

Is T97 worth opting into?

Only if you have something that can use the super off-peak window. T97 gives you a genuinely cheap rate between midnight and 4am every day, including weekends, which is the ideal time to fill a home battery or charge an EV.

The trade-off is real and worth stating plainly: T97’s evening peak runs an hour longer than T93’s, finishing at 10pm instead of 9pm. There’s also an excess demand charge if the house draws more than 8.5 kW at once — TasNetworks reckons around 97% of homes stay under that, but it’s a consideration if you might run an EV charger, oven and heating together.

So the maths is straightforward. With a battery or EV, the overnight window usually more than pays for the longer peak. Without one, T93’s shorter evening peak is generally the better deal.

Should I be on a time-of-use tariff at all?

If you’re on a new connection, you already are — T93 is the default. If you’re on the legacy T31/T41 and wondering whether to move, the question is whether you can shift big loads out of the weekday morning and evening peaks. Solar alone won’t dodge those peaks, because they fall when the sun is low or gone.

Time-of-use tends to suit households that can:

run dishwashers, washing machines and pool pumps in the middle of the day or overnight
charge an EV overnight on the cheaper rate
add a battery to cover the evening peak

If everyone’s out during the day and dinner, heating and hot water all land in the evening peak with nothing to shift them, the older flat arrangement may still be the calmer choice for now. It’s worth comparing your actual usage pattern before changing anything — and worth knowing that once you move off T31/T41, you can’t go back.

How big a solar system should a Tasmanian home get?

For a home that plans to electrify over the coming years — EV, heat pump, induction cooking — a system around 13 kW of panels on a 10 kW inverter is a sensible, future-proof starting point, rather than the older 6.6 kW default. That pairing uses the common 133% inverter oversizing rule, and TasNetworks permits a 10 kW single-phase inverter, so most homes don’t need three-phase power.

A few honest caveats:

Bigger systems only pay off if you can use the extra generation — otherwise you’re exporting at the modest feed-in rate.
A low-use household with no EV, battery or electrification plans may be better served by a smaller, cheaper system.
Roof orientation, shading and your switchboard all affect what’s actually suitable, so system design matters as much as panel count.

What rebates are available in Tasmania?

Two federal programs do the heavy lifting; there is no separate Tasmanian state battery rebate. Both have eligibility conditions, so treat any figures as indicative rather than guaranteed.

Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs): the federal Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme discounts the upfront cost of solar. Tasmania sits in STC Zone 4, and the rebate is applied through your installer as a point-of-sale discount.
Cheaper Home Batteries Program: from 1 July 2025, this takes roughly 30% off an eligible battery — approximately $250 per usable kWh at the full 2026 rate for the first 14 kWh, stepping down to 60% of that rate for 14–28 kWh and 15% for 28–50 kWh, capped at 50 kWh. The support tapers each year to 2030, and the battery must be paired with solar.

Is a home battery worth it in Tasmania?

For many households, a battery pays back noticeably more slowly in Tasmania than on the mainland — often somewhere in the 7–12 year range depending on usage, tariff and system size — because our grid power is relatively affordable and the feed-in tariff is fair. The main value here is extra self-consumption plus blackout backup, not export arbitrage.

Worth knowing:

No vendor or retailer VPP program currently operates in Tasmania.
Wholesale spot-passthrough retailing does exist, and automated battery control can charge when spot prices go negative and dodge peak imports — Solar Generation runs exactly this setup on its own systems.
For a typical household on a standard Aurora tariff, though, the honest case for a battery is using more of your own solar and keeping the lights on during outages.

How long might solar take to pay for itself?

As a rough guide rather than a promise, many Tasmanian households see solar pay for itself in around 4–6 years, with the battery portion taking longer — roughly 7–12 years — depending on how much solar you self-consume, your tariff, your roof, and future power prices. Homes that shift usage into daylight hours sit at the faster end; heavy exporters at the slower end.

The single biggest lever is self-consumption: every unit you use avoids roughly 28–30 cents of grid power, while every exported unit earns 9.276 cents. Run the big appliances when the sun’s out, and the maths looks after itself.

So what should I actually do?

Start with your usage, not the tariff catalogue. Check when your home uses power, run what you can during solar hours, size the system for where your household is heading rather than where it is today, and only add a battery if the self-consumption and backup value stacks up for you. Whichever tariff you land on, using more of your own solar is what makes the numbers work.

This guide was written by the Tasmanian solar team at Solar Generation Tasmania as a free community resource — we’re locals, and we’re always happy to answer questions from households working through these decisions.

#solargentas #solargen #solargenerationtasmania

Corrected 23 September 2026: an earlier version of this guide implied that Tariff 31 with Tariff 41 for hot water was the standard Tasmanian arrangement, and did not name Tariffs 93 or 97. Tariff 93 has been the default since 1 July 2024, T31/T41 have been closed to new connections since 30 June 2024, and Tariff 97 is the opt-in tariff with a super off-peak rate. We have corrected the article and apologise for the error.

Published by Solar Generation Tasmania. General information current as at publication — rebates, tariffs and prices change, so confirm current figures before deciding.