Paying for clean power

PRODUCING energy from renewable sources generally costs more than from petroleum, gas and coal because the fossil fuels are highly subsidised. Which is why clean power producers under the Feed-in Tariff scheme get paid rates that are higher than normal electricity tariffs.

The money for this comes from the Renewable Energy (RE) Fund which is contributed by consumers through the surcharge in their monthly electricity – 1% since December 2011, and raised to 1.6% in January.