For a household using 17 kWh a day, about $564 a quarter at Victoria's 30c a unit, the calculator puts 6.6kW solar at $4,850 to $6,850 after rebates, and 6.6kW solar + 10kWh battery at $6,430 to $14,330.
I am an advisor, not an installer and not a lead broker. You pay nothing at any point.
See what my home should costA household home some days, thinking about outages, using 17 kWh a day.
A ballpark for one example household, not a quote. The low end of each range is what a competitive installer charges; the high end is a poor quote for the same equipment. Prices are from the same calculator the free assessment uses, with Victorian rates and rebates, and sun hours are its figure for Victoria.
Four real households, run through the same calculator this site uses for an individual report. Panels only, no battery, clean roof, someone home some of the time. Prices are after every rebate that applies in Victoria.
| Household uses | Their quarterly bill | System | After rebates | Saves a year | Pays for itself |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 kWh | $373 | 5–6.6kW solar | $4,070 to $6,100 | $350–$530 | 9–10+ years |
| 15 kWh | $510 | 6.6kW solar | $4,850 to $6,850 | $500–$750 | 8–10 years |
| 22 kWh | $701 | 10–13kW solar | $6,600 to $11,600 | $760–$1,140 | 7–10+ years |
| 30 kWh | $919 | 10–13kW solar | $6,600 to $11,600 | $990–$1,480 | 6–9 years |
The bill column is what that household actually pays in Victoria at 30c a unit, which is why the same house has a different bill in every state. Savings depend on how much of the generation gets used on site rather than exported, and at 1c a unit for exports that is the number that decides the answer. A household out all day saves less than the figures above; one home most days saves more. Every figure is produced by the calculator, not written down, so it moves when the published rates move.
Bairnsdale is the main town of East Gippsland, a long way down the line from anywhere else, in country that knows bushfire. A lot of people here ask about batteries for one reason above the others: keeping the power on when the grid goes down. That is a fair reason, and it is worth knowing exactly what it takes.
Your retailer sells you the power. Your distributor owns the poles and wires, and it is the distributor that decides how much solar you may send back to the grid. Bairnsdale is on AusNet's network[1], so AusNet's rules are the ones a quote here should be designed to. Look for AusNet Services on your bill, near the meter details.
How exports work on AusNet. AusNet's connection policy from 1 July 2026, approved by the Australian Energy Regulator, lets a household system be assessed instantly online for up to 10kW of inverter capacity and 5kW of export per phase, or 3.5kW per phase on a single-wire earth return line, the kind that runs out to a lot of rural properties. Flexible export conditions apply to new connections, so the limit can move with what the local network can take, and an inverter that cannot stay connected to AusNet over the internet falls back to a low static limit[2].
What that means in practice: the limit is set for your address when your installer applies, before anything goes on the roof. Ask to see it before you sign, and ask whether the inverter will stay online for flexible exports. Power the house uses, or a battery stores for the evening, is worth the full import price. Power that runs into the export limit is simply lost, and even what gets out earns about 1c a unit. So size the array to what the house uses, not to the size of the roof.
At the 2021 Census Bairnsdale had 7,905 people and a median age of 44. 33.4% of occupied homes were rented, against 28.5% across Victoria, and 25.6% of residents were 65 or older, against 16.8%.[3]
A town of owners who have been here a long time, renters, and a lot of people for whom an outage is not an abstract risk.
Things worth knowing before an installer walks the roof:
All of that describes the area, not your house. Two homes on the same street can be completely different jobs. Put your address in and the assessment works off the actual property rather than a town average.
An ordinary grid-connected solar system switches off when the grid goes down. That is a safety rule, so nobody working on the lines is hit by power coming back from your roof. A battery only keeps the lights on in an outage if it is installed with backup: an inverter or gateway that can separate the house from the grid, and the circuits you want kept on wired to it.
Not every battery system is set up that way, and backup is often limited to selected circuits rather than the whole house. If outages are why you want a battery, say so first, ask which circuits will run in a blackout and for how long, and get it in writing. The worked examples below price the battery for savings; backup is an additional reason, and an additional design requirement.
These are examples, not an average for Bairnsdale. They are picked to show how the answer moves for the kinds of household the census shows are common here. Clean roof, no shading, Victorian rates and rebates, and the battery prices assume it is installed before the federal battery discount steps down on 1 January 2027.
| Option | System | After rebates | Saves a year | Pays for itself |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change plan and cut waste first | No system | $0 | $110–$340 | Nothing to pay back |
| Solar panels only | 6.6kW solar | $4,850 to $6,850 | $560–$840 | 7–10 years |
| Solar plus a 10kWh batteryPays back fastest | 6.6kW solar + 10kWh battery | $6,430 to $14,330 | $1,230–$1,660 | 5–9 years |
Solar plus a 10kWh battery. It pays back fastest of the options open to you, which is the only measure here that accounts for what the thing actually costs.
Before any of it: get onto a competitive retail offer. It costs nothing, it takes an afternoon, and on a bill your size it is worth roughly $110 to $340 a year. Every payback below gets shorter once you are paying less per kWh, so it is worth doing first either way.
| Option | System | After rebates | Saves a year | Pays for itself |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change plan and cut waste first | No system | $0 | $150–$440 | Nothing to pay back |
| Solar panels only | 10–13kW solar | $6,600 to $11,600 | $610–$920 | 9–10+ years |
| Solar plus a 10kWh battery | 10–13kW solar + 10kWh battery | $7,730 to $18,330 | $1,290–$1,910 | 5–10+ years |
| Solar plus a 15kWh batteryPays back fastest | 10–13kW solar + ~15kWh battery | $9,970 to $20,970 | $1,630–$2,240 | 5–10 years |
Solar plus a 15kWh battery. It pays back fastest of the options open to you, which is the only measure here that accounts for what the thing actually costs.
Before any of it: get onto a competitive retail offer. It costs nothing, it takes an afternoon, and on a bill your size it is worth roughly $150 to $440 a year. Every payback below gets shorter once you are paying less per kWh, so it is worth doing first either way.
"Pays for itself" is the range between a competitive quote and a poor one for the same equipment, and 10+ means not inside ten years. The battery ranges are wide for the same reason. Your own usage, roof and timing will move every figure here, which is what the free assessment works from.
Applied by the installer as a discount on the quote, not something you claim. It scales with system size: on the 6.6kW solar in the first example above the calculator counts $1,750. It falls a little each year until the scheme ends in 2030.
Up to $1,400, or half the cost after the STC discount if that is less, plus a matching interest-free loan you choose when you apply. Household taxable income under $150,000, property under $3 million, and no solar installed at the address in the last ten years. Owner-occupiers, owners of homes under construction and rental properties can all apply. Rebates are released in batches, so check what is left in the current release before you count on it. From 1 July 2027 household solar support moves into the Victorian Energy Upgrades program[4][5].
Victoria's own battery support has closed, so the federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program is the one that applies[6]. On a 10kWh battery the calculator counts $2,520. The rate is set by the date the battery is installed, not when you order it, and it steps down on 1 January 2027 and every six months after that[7]. Larger batteries earn less per extra kWh: the full rate applies to the first 14kWh.
There has been no minimum feed-in tariff in Victoria since 1 July 2025. Retailers set their own, and it cannot go below zero[8]. The calculator assumes 1c a unit, which is why every example on this page is decided by how much power the house uses itself.
The full breakdown, with dates, is in Victorian solar rebates explained.
Already holding a quote? This is how I read one, line by line.
For the first example household on this page, 17 kWh a day, the calculator puts 6.6kW solar at $4,850 to $6,850 after Victorian rebates, and 6.6kW solar + 10kWh battery at $6,430 to $14,330. The range is the gap between a competitive installer and a poor quote for the same equipment. Your own figure depends on your usage and roof, which is what the free assessment works out.
AusNet. It is on AusNet's network, so AusNet sets the export limit for your address when your installer applies, not your retailer. Its policy from 1 July 2026 assesses household systems online for up to 5kW of export per phase, or 3.5kW on rural single-wire lines, with flexible export conditions on new connections. Ask your installer for the approved limit before you sign.
Only if it is installed with backup. A standard grid-connected system shuts down when the grid does, for safety. A battery needs a backup-capable inverter or gateway and the chosen circuits wired to it. Ask which circuits will run, for how long, and get it in writing.
The installer, and only when a job completes. Never the homeowner. No installer can buy placement, and nothing about you reaches one until you ask me to make the introduction.
About a minute. You get the system size, what it should cost, and what it saves. No one calls you unless you ask.
Start My Free CheckIndependent explainers on the parts of this that actually change the answer.
Prices, savings and paybacks come from this site's calculator, using Victorian rates verified 2026-08. Everything else is from the sources below, read on the date shown. Rules and rebates change, so check the source before you rely on one.