How to connect - Homeowners & small businesses

Once you have chosen your system, you’ll need to find someone to install it. Please ensure the person who installs your system is accredited by the Clean Energy Council.

To ensure our electricity network can support the connection of your system, you need to apply for a new connection contract with us. As technical information is required, it’s a good idea to have your system retailer/installer apply for you.

As a customer, you can submit your Connect Application yourself through our Customer Self Service. If you’re not quite sure about the information you need to provide, we recommend talking to your system retailer/installer who can submit the application on your behalf.

If you are a system retailer/installer operating on behalf of a customer, you will need to submit the Connect Application through the Electrical Partners Portal.

Note: During the connection process we will usually contact the person who makes the application.

Connection Application -  Apply now

You can check the progress of your Connect Application via Track Service Orders.

If you still have questions, you can call our Solar and Renewables Team on (07) 4789 5959 (8am to 3.30pm, Monday to Friday) or email us.

When we receive your application, we’ll check if your proposed connection qualifies as a basic connection or if a negotiated connection will be required. We will also assess whether the local electricity network can support your new system.

Once the Connect Application has been submitted, we will review it and provide a Basic or Negotiated Connection Offer.

The offer must be accepted for your system connection to proceed.

If someone submits the application on your behalf, they will also need to accept our connection offer on your behalf.

Note: Even though someone may be acting on your behalf, the connection contract that is formed by accepting our connection offer is between you and us, and it is IMPORTANT you understand your connection contract.

Basic Connection

If your connection is assessed as basic, it can be fast-tracked when submitting the online Connect Application by ensuring the Expedite Application box is ticked. The connection contract will automatically be created based on the terms of our Model Standing Offer - Micro Embedded Generation (PDF 373.1 kb).

If your application is assessed as basic, but is not expedited, we’ll make a Basic Connection Offer within 10 business days (or another date agreed with you). You'll have 45 business days to accept it. Your connection contract starts when the offer is accepted.

Negotiated Connection

If your connection is unable to be classified as basic, it will be classed as a negotiated connection. We’ll contact the person who applied to discuss the terms of your connection contract. There may be additional costs which will need to be accepted at this time.

We do a technical assessment for most applications that will receive a Negotiated Connection Offer. If our technical assessment finds that your proposed system may not work effectively with our network, we’ll send an email advising of the options available. Once you choose your preferred option, we’ll arrange for your connection offer to be sent.

We’ll aim to make a Negotiated Connection Offer within 65 business days of your Connect Application being submitted. You'll have 20 business days to accept it. Your connection contract starts once the offer is accepted.

See our indicative terms for a Negotiated Connection Contract (PDF 456.9 kb).

Do you live in a remote area? All new Connect Applications submitted in isolated communities need to be investigated before it can be determined if they will be basic or negotiated.

Read more about connection service types, offers and contracts in our FAQs.

The installation or alteration of any system that will be connected to our network must not be commenced until after you have accepted our connection offer and your connection contract has been formed.

Your system installer must submit an Electrical Work Request (EWR) to us within the timeframes outlined in your connection contract once the system has been installed.

You must also contact your electricity retailer to advise of your new/modified system and arrange for appropriate metering to be installed if needed. Your electricity retailer may also require changes to your account (e.g. apply a solar feed-in tariff if you are eligible and will be exporting electricity to the grid).

Note: Metering that measures any electricity exported to the grid is required on all systems. Your electricity retailer may need you to have a new meter installed or your existing meter programmed to measure export. Please discuss this with your retailer and the timeframe for this to occur.

Important: Your installer must leave your system switched off until the metering has been replaced or programmed to measure export. Before the system is turned on you should talk to your installer about how to do this safely.

We may visit your premises to inspect your system to confirm it matches your application and meets safety and electrical standards. We may inspect your system after installation, as part of an audit, or if there's potential for your system to have an impact on our network. We don’t need to check the solar panels.

It's important that any system changes such as changing settings, swapping your inverter, or adding panels or batteries are approved by us before an installer makes the changes. You'll need to submit a Connect Application (see step 1 above) to apply for the changes.

Note: If we visit your premises, we’ll need access to your meter box and your inverter.