For a household using 18 kWh a day, about $592 a quarter at NSW's 30c a unit, the calculator puts 6.6kW solar at $5,960 to $7,960 after rebates, and 6.6kW solar + 10kWh battery at $7,540 to $15,440.
I am an advisor, not an installer and not a lead broker. You pay nothing at any point.
See what my home should costAn older couple in a brick house, home most days, using 18 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 NSW rates and rebates, and sun hours are its figure for New South Wales.
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 New South Wales.
| Household uses | Their quarterly bill | System | After rebates | Saves a year | Pays for itself |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 kWh | $373 | 5–6.6kW solar | $5,470 to $7,500 | $490–$730 | 9–10+ years |
| 15 kWh | $510 | 6.6kW solar | $6,250 to $8,250 | $650–$970 | 8–10 years |
| 22 kWh | $701 | 10–13kW solar | $8,000 to $13,000 | $1,020–$1,530 | 6–10 years |
| 30 kWh | $919 | 10–13kW solar | $8,000 to $13,000 | $1,230–$1,850 | 5–8 years |
The bill column is what that household actually pays in New South Wales 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 3.4c 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.
Concord West is a quiet suburb of established brick houses beside the Parramatta River, with a lot of long-time owners. Many households are home through the day and have paid off the house, which is about as good a starting point for solar as Sydney offers.
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. Concord West is inside Ausgrid's network[1], so Ausgrid's rules are the ones a quote here should be designed to. Look for Ausgrid on your bill.
A choice from late 2026. Ausgrid is giving new and upgraded systems a choice. A flexible export connection is automatically approved to export up to 10kW per phase, and Ausgrid can turn it down when the local network needs it, to a minimum of 1.5kW per site. A fixed export connection is approved for 3kW per system and is never adjusted. Either way the inverter has to talk to Ausgrid over the internet; a house without a reliable connection gets a static limit of 1.5kW[2].
What that means in practice: flexible suits a bigger array that will have surplus most afternoons; fixed suits a house that uses most of what it makes and wants a number that never moves. 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 only a few cents. So size the array to what the house uses, not to the size of the roof.
At the 2021 Census, 78.8% of occupied homes in Concord West were separate houses, against 65.6% across New South Wales, and 42.8% were owned outright, against 31.5%. 18.7% of residents were 65 or older.[3]
Owner-occupied houses, often with someone at home.
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 older couple at home most days, running the air conditioning, the washing and the kitchen while the panels are producing, uses most of what a sensible array makes. That is the first worked example below. For a household like that, the question is mostly size: too big an array just exports more for a few cents.
Whether a battery adds enough on top depends on what is left in the evening, and the example shows the calculator's answer for that household.
NSW planning rules treat rooftop solar as exempt development when the roof it sits on does not face the main road and the panels cannot be seen from it[4]. On a heritage item or in a heritage conservation area, a street-facing array may need council approval, so check with the City of Canada Bay first.
These are examples, not an average for Concord West. They are picked to show how the answer moves for the kinds of household the census shows are common here. Clean roof, no shading, NSW 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 | $120–$350 | Nothing to pay back |
| Solar panels only | 6.6kW solar | $5,960 to $7,960 | $880–$1,320 | 6–7 years |
| Solar plus a 10kWh batteryPays back fastest | 6.6kW solar + 10kWh battery | $7,540 to $15,440 | $1,470–$1,910 | 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 $120 to $350 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–$450 | Nothing to pay back |
| Solar panels only | 10–13kW solar | $7,670 to $12,670 | $1,070–$1,610 | 6–9 years |
| Solar plus a 10kWh battery | 10–13kW solar + 10kWh battery | $8,800 to $19,400 | $1,690–$2,440 | 5–9 years |
| Solar plus a 15kWh batteryPays back fastest | 10–13kW solar + ~15kWh battery | $11,040 to $22,040 | $1,980–$2,660 | 5–9 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 $450 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 $2,040. It falls a little each year until the scheme ends in 2030.
There is no upfront state rebate on solar panels in New South Wales. There is the Home Energy Saver loan: interest-free, up to $15,000, repaid over up to ten years, for property owners, including landlords, with a combined taxable household income up to $210,000. Rooftop solar and batteries are both eligible, and the loans are delivered by Brighte and Plenti[5]. A separate discount of up to $4,000, for households earning up to $80,000 a year or holding an eligible concession card, has been announced but was not yet open on 26 October 2026[6]. The calculator leaves the loan out of every price, because it is repaid.
The federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program applies in NSW. 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]. NSW's own battery discount under the Peak Demand Reduction Scheme is now only available through approved programs or on government sites, and NSW points battery owners to a separate incentive for joining a virtual power plant[8].
IPART's benchmark for a flat feed-in tariff in 2026-27 is 3.4 to 6.5c a unit, down from 4.8 to 7.3c the year before, and retailers do not have to pay it[9]. The calculator assumes 3.4c a unit, the bottom of that range, 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 NSW solar rebates explained.
Already holding a quote? This is how I read one, line by line.
For the first example household on this page, 18 kWh a day, the calculator puts 6.6kW solar at $5,960 to $7,960 after NSW rebates, and 6.6kW solar + 10kWh battery at $7,540 to $15,440. 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.
Ausgrid. It sits inside Ausgrid's network, so Ausgrid sets your export limit, not your retailer. From late 2026, new and upgraded systems choose a flexible connection of up to 10kW per phase, which Ausgrid can turn down to 1.5kW per site when it needs to, or a fixed 3kW per system. Ask your installer which they have designed to before you sign.
Usually smaller than the roof allows. A household at home in the day uses a lot of its solar directly, so the useful size is set by what the house uses, not by the roof. The first worked example on this page is that household.
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 NSW 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.