Solar panels in Prairiewood

As an estimate, a 6.6kW system comes to about $3,990, a 10kW to about $5,490 and a 13.2kW to about $7,990, with the STC discount for postcode 2176 already taken off. Those are typical figures for a straightforward install, not a fixed price. Homes here are mostly single-storey brick with tile roofs and straightforward access, so the quote usually lands close to the estimate — a switchboard upgrade is the most common addition.

Prairiewood is in STC Zone 3, rating 1.382. In 2026 a 6.6kW system creates 45 certificates, worth roughly $1,710 off the price, and a 10kW system 69 certificates, roughly $2,622. The discount shrinks each January until the scheme ends in 2030, and the exact amount depends on the certificate market on your installation date.

Yes, and for most households here it is the single best thing you can do with a new system — no extra hardware required. An electric storage tank is, in effect, a battery you already own: it stores energy as hot water and holds it for a day. If yours currently heats overnight on a controlled off-peak circuit, that heat is coming from power you buy. Move the heating into the middle of the day and it comes from your roof instead. The change is usually a timer and a call to your retailer about the metering arrangement, not new plumbing.

Cheaper than peak, yes — but not cheaper than free. Power from your own roof costs you nothing beyond the system you have already paid for, while off-peak is still a rate on a bill. The comparison that matters is between the off-peak rate you pay overnight and the feed-in rate you would have earned by exporting that same energy at midday, which is usually a fraction of it. For a household with a big tank and a full house, moving the heating into daylight is one of the largest single savings available, and it costs almost nothing to arrange.

A heat pump hot water system uses substantially less electricity than a resistive element for the same hot water, and it pairs well with solar for the same reason: run it in the middle of the day and most of what it draws comes off your roof. They attract their own certificates under the federal scheme, separate from the ones your panels create, and there are periodic state programs as well. We do not install them, so treat that as a pointer rather than a quote — but if you are replacing a tank anyway, it is worth pricing before you buy like for like.

The distribution network that owns the poles and wires in your street approves it — not your retailer — and we lodge the application for you. That network also decides how much your system may export: on a flexible export connection, eligible customers can send up to 10kW per phase back to the grid most of the time, while a fixed export limit caps exports at 1.5kW. Moving hot water off a controlled load is a retail and metering matter rather than a network one, so it is a separate conversation with your retailer.

Yes. We cover the whole 2176 postcode, including Greenfield Park, Wakeley, as well as Bossley Park and the suburbs around it. The pricing, the process and the connection paperwork are the same right across it.