Solar with wholesale electricity pricing
We do things a little differently around here. We don't offer a fixed-price rate. Instead, we offer the real-time price, straight from the wholesale market.
Access the real-time, variable wholesale price for your solar buy-back rate, for electricity you sell back to the grid. Join any Flick plan and ride the highs and lows of the wholesale market to earn from your solar. Battery owners have the potential to earn even more by monitoring live electricity prices and exporting when the wholesale price is high.
How it works
Export your excess or stored energy to the grid at the variable wholesale electricity price in your region that changes every 30 minutes. It’s the real-time, real-deal price for everything you sell, and is credited directly to your Flick account (please note, there are some networks that charge a small fee on export. See our FAQs below for more info).
You can see live wholesale prices for every region on the EMI's Wholesale Information Trading System.
Average monthly wholesale price during sunshine hours
The bar graph below represents the past year’s monthly average wholesale price between the hours of 9am-4pm at the Haywards pricing node near Wellington, which is typically indicative of wholesale electricity prices nationwide. The wholesale prices are sourced from the Electricity Authority's 'Wholesale price trends' dataset and is and exclusive of GST. Please see the FAQs below for more information on how this is calculated.
Important: Wholesale prices are volatile and unpredictable. Future prices are likely to be different, potentially materially different.
Get more bang for your buck with a battery
Based on a full day’s view of the historical average wholesale price, we reckon the best times to export excess or stored energy is typically during the morning (7-9am) and afternoon (4-8pm) peak periods.
Battery owners have the potential to set their battery to chosen time periods where the price is typically high, to export stored energy back to the grid. For those keen to level up and nerd out, closely monitor the wholesale market movements and export when prices are elevated, helping you get closer to paying off your panels. Win!
This graph is broadly representative of New Zealand's average daily wholesale price fluctuations between Jan 2021 - Dec 2023. The current, live wholesale price is not shown, as the purpose of this graph is simply to illustrate that the rate fluctuates. Please note historical data is not a guarantee or necessarily indicative of any future price trend.
More reasons to join Flick with solar
Utilise off-peak hours on Off Peak
For battery owners, if your sunlight hours start to taper off in the afternoon, consider topping up your battery with electricity from the grid within off-peak hours (for example, 3-5pm) on our Off Peak plan. Import your energy from the grid when demand is low and electricity prices are cheaper, so your battery could help you minimise your evening power use from the grid during peak hours.
Flick's off-peak hours are 11am to 5pm and 9pm to 7am on weekdays, and all weekend long – that’s 76% of the week!
Smart tools
Right now you can analyse your data in the Flick App by comparing how much electricity you’ve bought and sold.
Helping Aotearoa's grid
Becoming more self-sufficient with solar by reducing your reliance on importing electricity, means a little bit less pressure on the grid. Ka pai!
Still ironing out the kinks
Our trial stage still comes with some wrinkles - but we’ll be billing you correctly every billing period. Here’s a list of the major limitations currently in this trial:
Your power bill email subject line only shows your bought electricity total
We can’t currently serve customers with ARCs meters (get in touch if you’re unsure if this applies to you)
“By selling my excess power back to the grid at the wholesale price, I get a great incentive to reduce my own consumption. I like Flick’s wholesale buy-back rate better than other fixed-rate offers because I know I’m always getting the market price” - Derek, solar and battery customer, long-time Flickster
Solar power plan FAQs
How is the average wholesale price between 9am-4pm (sunshine hours) calculated?
The average wholesale price for sunshine hours is calculated by taking every 30-minute wholesale electricity price for the Haywards node between 9am-4pm every day of each calendar month and calculating the average of the prices during each month. The Haywards node is typically indicative of the wholesale prices across New Zealand sourced from the Electricity Authority's 'Wholesale price trends' dataset. These prices are exclusive of GST.
Why do you calculate the average wholesale price in sunshine hours?
We calculate the average wholesale price in sunshine hours - between 9am-4pm - to indicate the most representative wholesale price to solar customers who are exporting excess solar during the day.
We know we can't control the weather, but we hope the way we've cut the data is more meaningful to you and how you use your solar!
Are there fees on my solar export?
A handful of networks across Aotearoa charge a small fee (less than 1c/ kWh) on export. These networks are: Northpower, Top Energy, Marlborough, Nelson, Counties, and Waipa. We will deduct this from the wholesale power price you are entitled to before crediting your account.
It's worth noting that in the future, some networks may decide to charge a small fee for export, too. If this happens, we’ll give you as much notice as reasonably practicable.
What was the average wholesale price last month? (September)
Average price across 24hrs for September 2024 was 7.64 c/kWh.
The averages are calculated by summing every 30-minute wholesale price from the Haywards Pricing node across 24 hours for every day of the month of September (1-30 Sept 2024), and dividing the sum of all wholesale prices in each day, by the total number of wholesale prices in that day (48). The Haywards node is typically indicative of the wholesale prices across New Zealand sourced from the Electricity Authority's 'Wholesale price trends' dataset and is exclusive of GST.
(Updated 8 October 2024).
Does the wholesale buy-back rate ever drop?
Yes, for example, buy-back rates typically decrease when there’s less demand for energy across New Zealand or when there is surplus generation capacity.
Lots of things influence the wholesale prices! New Zealand has lots of renewable generation so weather plays a big role. If there’s lots of wind and rain in the right places, wholesale prices will tend to drop, and conversely, if they’re in short supply, wholesale prices will typically increase. Seasonal demand has an influence too (for example, collectively NZ uses more power in the winter than we do in the warmer months), and the availability and current prices of thermal generation, like gas and coal, has an impact as well.
What’s Flick’s current wholesale solar buy-back rate?
Our solar customers have access to wholesale power prices (also known as spot prices) for their variable buy-back rate. This means that the price of your exported electricity fluctuates with the wholesale electricity market, with prices changing every 30 minutes depending on supply and demand.
You can see live wholesale prices for every region on the EMI's Wholesale Information Trading System. Wholesale prices are updated every 30 minutes.
Is the wholesale buy-back rate available for other types of home generation?
Yes! If you have a source of electricity generation at home, like wind turbines then our variable wholesale buy-back rate is available to you.
More reasons to choose Flick
Award-winning customer service for energy providers
Choose when you pay with our flexible billing
