What solar should actually cost in Australia in 2026

By Oliver Hill · Updated 1 September 2026

Installed prices, before rebates

These are fitted prices for a straightforward single-storey install on a tin or tile roof with reasonable access. They are the same figures the calculator on this site uses, so nothing here is a marketing number written separately from the tool.

The before-rebate column applies nationally. The after-rebate column is Victoria, because the rebates themselves are not national: the federal STC discount scales with system size and location, and state panel rebates vary. Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory attract a slightly larger STC figure. Run your own state's numbers if you want the exact after-rebate figure for your address.

Why the range is so wide

The spread inside each row is not a quality gap. The bottom is what a genuinely competitive installer charges for good mid-tier equipment. The top is closer to what you will be quoted by a company with a sales team, a call centre and a marketing budget. Both can be legitimate businesses fitting decent gear, and the panels and inverter can be identical.

On a 6.6kW system that spread is about $3,150. On solar plus a battery it is closer to $4,500. That is the money that moves depending on who you happen to ring first, for the same hardware on the same roof.

A quote above the range is not automatically bad

Sometimes the extra is real. A second-storey install, a tile roof needing extra care, a long cable run, or a switchboard that genuinely needs upgrading all cost money that a cheaper quote on a simpler house does not carry. Premium equipment costs more and is sometimes worth it.

What you are entitled to is an explanation that survives a follow-up question. If the extra is a switchboard upgrade, that is an answer. If the extra is a line item called system design and engineering, that is not, because designing the system is part of selling it. I have taken a real quote apart line by line if you want to see what that looks like in practice.

The number that matters more than the price

A padded line item costs you once. An inflated savings assumption changes whether buying makes sense at all, and it is far more common.

Most quoted savings figures rest on an assumption about how much of your generation you use on site rather than export. With feed-in tariffs now a few cents against retail rates several times higher, that assumption is worth more than the hardware discount you are negotiating over. A household out from eight until six does not use most of its generation on site, and a projection built as if it does will overstate the annual saving by hundreds of dollars a year.

So before you argue about the price, ask what self-consumption percentage sits behind the savings number, and whether it matches how your house actually runs.

Checking a quote in five minutes

1. Find the system size and the installed price, before rebates, and put it against the table above.
2. Ask what self-consumption percentage the savings figure assumes.
3. Ask what feed-in tariff was used, and whether it is the current one for your state.
4. Ask what any line item you do not recognise actually covers.
5. If a hybrid inverter is quoted, ask whether you are paying that premium for a battery you have not committed to.

Common questions