I am in the process of purchasing an IP which has a 5KW solar system. There is a tenant at the moment who is willing to stay. Current owner has kept the electricity bill under his name. RTA provides a few different options to manage solar. Solar power | Residential Tenancies Authority This property has been rented for little under the market rate. Tenant is happy with the current electricity bill arrangement. Current owners are using the option 2 in the list. After I purchase the house, I can only get 8.5c per 1KW. If the system can feed 8KW per day (240KW per month), I can get $20 rebate back. And then I have to keep the bill under my name and send it to the PM for invoicing the tenant etc. Has anyone tried this before? Is it worth to do it for small amount?
There was a thread on this somewhere. Electricity - IP with solar panels IIRC, the lease need's to be written stating electricity supplied/included..... Just remember that some tenants may see "free power" and leave the AC running 24/7 You can often negotiate a higher feed in tariff when signing up, I get 22c per kwh Basically solar can be a nightmare as it adds to maintenance costs, should the system fail it often isn't noticed for months, then you are up for a repair and the tenant wants to be compensated for the difference in the bill
Thanks for that! So far what I found in QLD the best I can get is 15c with AGL. However that includes a $1.20+gst daily charge, which is not worth for smaller system. Without having a daily charge 8.5c is what they offer. I understand this is going to be more pain than the benefit. Because we already have it install and current tenant is living there happily with that option 2 arrangement. Looks like maintenance issues as you mentioned will be there regardless of the selected option?
Most appropriate advice from other thread Seeing as it is only a small system you are probably better to go with option 2
Check with Landlord insurance PDS to see if they cover unpaid electricity bills in the event the Tenant does not pay you. Personally, my approach is Tenant must have electricity account in their name, use the solar as a selling point to achieve a premium rent. When a Tenancy goes south, it is a lot of effort to try and claw this money back from the Tenant, and in some cases the Landlords insurance excludes water/electricity stating the bond must be used for that, that's all well and good so long as their aren't other things the bond must cover that the insurance won't cover. Electricity is the most expensive of the utilities and racks up fast. QCAT can only consider matters less than 6 months old. You invoice the Tenant and give them 30 days to pay, they don't pay, you then give them a Form 11 (breach notice) giving 7 days to pay, they still don't pay, you then lodge a Form 16 dispute resolution request with the RTA for 'conciliation' which is a waste of time to receive a notice of unremedied dispute so you can then lodge a QCAT application and seek compensation order for the Tenant to pay, this has taken 6-7 months, meanwhile the next quarterly bill rolls in and you start the process all over again. In your case once that seller sells and moves on they will cancel their electricity account, this is the perfect opportunity for you to tell the Tenant they need to take out their own account, they can't make you take out an account. From the above, you can see how all that is not worth it for your maybe $20 credit from the feed in. In practice, when the Tenant feels they're not liable because the account is not in their name, watch everything get abused - lights and air con left on 24/7, then when you invoice them watch them not pay. Also, when they pay late causing you to maybe pay late and incur a late fee from the retailer, they don't let you claim that fee. It just costs you money.
Thanks for the very detailed answer! It makes sense and sure the $20/month not worth the hassle. I'll ask tenant to keep it
