 Queensland solar feed-in tariffs and the merit-order effect: economic benefit, or regressive taxation and wealth transfers?Tim Nelson, Paul Simshauser () and James Nelson Economic Analysis and Policy, 2012, vol. 42, issue 3, 277-301 Abstract: Premium residential solar feed-in tariffs have come under considerable scrutiny in Australia over the past 12 months following a sharp rise in the uptake of subsidised PV units and subsidy cost blow-outs. Using New South Wales data, Nelson, Simshauser and Kelley (2011) demonstrated that the inherent design of premium ‘gross’ feed-in tariffs are regressive in nature and required reform. Since the publication of that article in Economic Analysis & Policy (September 2011 edition), feed-in tariff policies have been substantially wound back in all Australian jurisdictions except Queensland. In this article, we examine the ‘net’ feed-in tariff in Queensland and similarly find it to be a regressive form of taxation. We also examine the so-called ‘merit order effect’ – a purported ‘economic benefit’ arising from premium feed-in tariffs. However, the evidence is clear that merit order effects must, by definition, be transient and above all, are not welfare enhancing. Keywords: Feed-in Tariffs; Electricity Prices; Merit Order Effect (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:42:y:2012:i:3:p:277-301 Access Statistics for this article Economic Analysis and Policy is currently edited by Clevo Wilson More articles in Economic Analysis and Policy from Elsevier |
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