An STC rate card looks like one number. It is really five things squeezed together: a market price, a trader’s margin, a fee schedule, a timing promise and a rule about when the price is fixed. Two cards that both say $38.50 can leave you with very different money in the account, and nobody is lying. They are just selling different packages under the same headline.
This article takes a rate apart so you can compare offers on what actually matters. If you want the history first, read STC price history. If you want to know where the market might go, see STC price forecast. This one is about the anatomy.
Layer one: the market price
The market sets the base. The CER’s STC Clearing House buys at a fixed $40 per STC, ex GST, so $40 is the ceiling. At the time of writing, the spot market has been roughly $38 to $40. A trader’s published rate starts from that market and works down.
Why down? Because a trader funds your payment before it has been repaid. It bears the registry wait, the risk that a certificate is later challenged, and the cost of holding stock. Our guide on what an STC is worth goes through these costs.
Layer two: spot versus forward
Spot is the price for certificates you can deliver now. Forward is a price fixed today for certificates delivered later. Forward usually comes in a little lower, because the buyer is committing capital for longer, but it gives you a number to build quotes around.
Most installers selling job by job sell at spot. If your volume is steady and predictable, ask whether a forward arrangement could give you better certainty. Get the delivery terms and any penalties in writing first.
Layer three: fees
Fees are where headline rates unravel. Common ones include:
- A per-claim or per-certificate processing fee
- A percentage brokerage charge
- Registry or admin fees
- A subscription or platform fee
- A payment fee for faster settlement
Some are disclosed on the rate card, and some appear only on the remittance. Ask for the lot in one sentence: “after every fee, what lands in my account for 45 STCs?” Our answer on STC trader fees lists what to look for. At Energy Merchants the answer is zero fees, which is the standard to hold any offer to.
Layer four: timing
Money has a time value, even over a few days. A trader that pays in 24 hours and one that pays in 20 days are offering different products. Take 45 STCs at $38. That is $1,710. If you borrow against it, or if it would otherwise sit in a trader’s account, a delay of 20 days costs you roughly the interest on $1,710 for 20 days, plus the stress. On a 40-job month, you have $68,400 sitting in someone else’s hands. Our answer on 20-day versus 1-day payment terms shows how to price that.
Layer five: when the price is fixed
This is the layer people skip. A rate lock fixes the price at a defined moment. The best moment for you is when you lodge a complete claim. If the price only fixes when the trader finishes validation, the rate you saw may not be the rate you get. Ask: “At what exact point is the price locked, and what makes a claim complete?”
A worked comparison
Same job, 45 STCs, three offers (illustrative figures):
| Offer A | Offer B | Offer C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headline rate | $38.80 | $38.20 | $38.40 |
| Fees | $4 per STC claim fee | None | 1% brokerage |
| Payment | 20 days | 24 hours | 7 days |
| Rate lock | On settlement | On lodgement | On lodgement |
| Gross | $1,746 | $1,719 | $1,728 |
| Net | $1,742 | $1,719 | $1,710.72 |
Offer A has the best headline but slow money and a floating rate. Offer B pays $23 less than A on this job, but pays 19 days sooner with a fixed rate. For most crews that trade is worth making. Offer C is in between on every line, and not clearly better at any.
Volume tiers
Many traders pay more as your monthly volume rises. Ask for the tier table, and how the tier is measured: calendar month, rolling 30 days, or certificates created? Ask what happens at the boundary. If you are 20 certificates short of the next tier in the last week of the month, it is worth knowing. Our partner program page shows how tiers can work.
GST and invoicing
If you are registered for GST, certificate sales are generally taxable, and the trader often creates the invoice on your behalf under a recipient-created tax invoice arrangement. Check your registration and ABN details are right before the first claim, because a mismatch holds up payment. See the GST and ABN guide and the answer on charging GST on STCs.
From the desk: Build a one-page rate comparison sheet with the five layers as rows and each trader as a column. Fill it in from their own documents, not from the sales call. Two hours of work, and you will know which offer you are really being made.
Reading a remittance
The remittance is the only document that tells the truth about your price. Look for these lines: the number of certificates, the price per certificate applied, any deductions, and the net paid. Then reconcile it against your claim and your bank statement. If the price applied differs from the rate you were quoted, ask why in writing. A good trader will explain without fuss. A trader that cannot or will not is telling you how your next dispute will go.
It is also worth checking whether the certificate count matches your calculation. A 6.6 kW system in a 1.382 zone with a five-year deeming period should create 45 certificates, because 6.6 x 1.382 x 5 is 45.6 and the registry rounds down. If the count is lower, the claim may have been adjusted for a reason, and you should know what it was before the next job.
The trap of the very high rate
Occasionally a trader publishes a rate at or very close to the $40 ceiling. Treat it with care. If a buyer pays $40 on a certificate it can only sell at $40 to the clearing house, it has no room for costs, so something else gives: fees, slower payment, a floating rate, or a rate that applies only to a narrow set of claims. Ask which. A rate that looks too good usually has a condition attached, and the condition is usually in the terms, not the headline.
What to do next
- Pull your last three remittances and work out your real net rate per certificate
- Ask each trader the five questions in this article, in writing
- Compare today’s published rate on the pricing page using the layers above
- Read the certificate trader checklist for the remaining questions