Four searches, one chain: who buys STCs, which companies buy them, do electricity retailers buy them, and who buys from the Clearing House. The answer is a chain of buyers with retailers at the end.
The end buyers: liable entities
Electricity retailers and other liable entities must surrender STCs to the Clean Energy Regulator in proportion to the electricity they acquire. That legal duty is the only reason STCs have value. Retailers buy certificates all year, and the surrender cycle is quarterly, as described in how liable entities surrender STCs. If a retailer falls short, it pays $65 per missing certificate, which is why retailers buy reliably.
The middle: traders, brokers and agents
Most retailers do not buy one house’s certificates at a time. They buy in volume from traders and brokers, who in turn buy from installers, agents and aggregators. A trader takes the claim, checks and registers certificates, handles validation, and sells on. That is where you meet the market as an installer. A good trader pays quickly, pays a published rate and carries the counterparty risk with the retailer. We compare the options in aggregator versus broker and in the trader checklist.
The backstop: the Clearing House
The Clearing House lets anyone with a registered person or registered agent account and Clearing House access buy or sell at $40 excluding GST. Sellers are paid from the transfer list as buyers purchase. Buyers are mostly retailers and traders topping up positions. See buying STCs from the Clearing House and selling through it.
The exception: batteries
STCs created under the Cheaper Home Batteries Program are purchased by the government, not by liable entities, according to the regulator. They are created on the same registry but they do not feed the retailer obligation. See battery STCs for how installers sell them.
Who buys from you
For a typical installer the buyer is a trader or aggregator. That could be Energy Merchants, which pays within 24 hours for established partners at a rate published daily on the pricing page, or another trader. Some installers sell through the Clearing House or a retailer’s own channel. Each path trades price, speed and effort differently, as discussed in STC trading price versus Clearing House.
Why the chain is not shorter
A single installer creates a few certificates a day, while a retailer needs millions a year. Aggregation bridges that gap. It is the same reason wholesale markets exist in most industries: a trader can validate, register, warehouse and deliver large lots at lower unit cost than any retailer could manage by dealing with thousands of installers. The trader earns a spread or a fee for that, which is why comparing the all-in rate matters more than the headline.
What this means for installers
You do not need to find a retailer. You need a trader with reliable settlement and a transparent, locked rate. Walk through how STC trading works and start trading when you are ready.