A fee per certificate looks small, so installers often shrug at it. The better question is what the fee is paying for, because that tells you whether you are buying a service or just losing margin.
What the fee is meant to cover
CER creation fee. The regulator charges the creator about 47 cents per STC for rooftop solar at the time of writing. A trader acting as registered agent pays it, and some pass it on. See registry fees explained.
Compliance and admin. Someone checks photos, forms and serials, lodges the claim and chases status. That is labour.
Failure risk. Some claims fail or are audited. A trader pricing that risk into a per-certificate charge is spreading the cost across all installers.
Margin. The remaining portion is plain profit. It is not wrong to earn, but it should be separated in your mind from costs.
Fee or spread: two ways to charge the same thing
A trader can earn $1 per STC in two ways: pay you $1 under what it sells for, or pay you the market rate and deduct a $1 fee. Same dollars. The second is easier to see, the first easier to hide. Compare both on one yardstick: the net per certificate you receive. See why trader prices differ from spot.
When a fee is a warning sign
- It is added after you have lodged, not before.
- It varies by month with no schedule.
- Failed-claim re-lodging is charged again.
- The rate is quoted ex-fee in headlines and net in contracts.
- There are fees for withdrawing, minimums or monthly subscriptions.
Per-STC fees at scale
A 45-STC solar job with a 50-cent fee costs $22. At 15 jobs a week that is about $17,000 a year. A battery job can create more STCs, so a per-certificate fee scales with job size even though the admin work does not. See battery STCs.
What this means for installers
Pick a structure you can predict. We charge zero fees: no per-STC, admin, registry or subscription charge. We publish one rate daily, lock it when a complete claim is lodged, and settle within 24 hours for established partners. See pricing, how it works, and the STC trading pillar. For a comparison with other models, see the existing answer on trader fees.
Questions to put to any trader
What do you deduct per STC, and why? Is it fixed or does it move? Does it apply to failed claims or resubmissions? Is it GST inclusive? A good provider answers these in one email. A vague answer is itself information.