The New South Wales Government’s Solar Bonus Scheme officially kicks off today; offering NSW residents, businesses and community groups a premium rate of  60 c/KWh for all electricity generated by their grid connect solar power systems up to 10kW in size.
    
The NSW government says the largest sized system permitted under the program would return almost $10,000 a year. For the average home solar power system, returns in the region of $1,400 annually are expected. Combined with the Federal Government’s Solar Credits program; this means a far quicker return on solar power investment for NSW residents; in some cases, just a few years.
    
However, it appears that not all NSW electricity distributors are ready for the Solar Bonus Scheme’s gross feed in tariff.
    
According to information from the Energy Matters web site and current as of mid-December, Integral customers’ meters can be reprogrammed and the gross feed in tariff will be offered from today. Integral customers need to apply for the gross feed in tariff and will need to pay one off fee of $275.
    
For Energy Australia (North Sydney) customers, the gross feed in tariff will not commence until July 2010, but the net feed in tariff will be available before this time. As Energy Australia’s meters cannot be reprogrammed, customers will need to change to a net meter this month and then to a gross meter in July. It is likely that customers will need to pay for 2 meter changeovers.
     
Country Energy, covering the rest of NSW, is the same scenario as Energy Australia, but Country Energy will be performing meter changeovers themselves at no charge. There may be a long waiting period for Country Energy meter changeovers and the company may also charge for the gross meter.
    
While the wait will be a disappointment to some, the popularity of the program is already seeing many NSW householders and businesses installing systems now to beat the inevitable rush when the gross feed in tariff is fully implemented across all regions.
  
Related: NSW Solar Bonus Scheme details