Solar in Caroline Springs, Taylors Lakes and Hillside

Caroline Springs, Taylors Lakes and Hillside sit close together, but they don't necessarily sit on the same electricity network. This is where Jemena's network meets Powercor's, and each has its own export rules, approved inverter lists and paperwork. Before anyone talks panel numbers, it's worth knowing which one you're on.

Which network?

Jemena names Taylors Lakes and Hillside among the suburbs supplied by its Sunbury and Sydenham zone substations, and lists Hillside among the western edges of its service area. Powercor's network covers the western suburbs beyond that. Caroline Springs sits close to where the two meet.

The simple way to settle it is your electricity bill, which names your distributor. If it says Jemena, read the Jemena section below. If it says Powercor, read that one.

On Jemena's network

Jemena's basic connection allows up to 10 kVA of inverter per phase, with exports capped at 5 kVA for a single-phase home and 15 kVA for three phase. Bigger systems are assessed through a negotiated connection.

Jemena also requires the inverter to stay connected to the internet at all times, as part of Victoria's emergency backstop. If Jemena can't reach the inverter, the export limit drops from 5 kVA per phase to 0.5 kVA for the whole site. The inverter has to be on the Clean Energy Council's CSIP-AUS compliant list and approved for Jemena's network.

From 1 July 2026, Jemena's default time of use tariff for new residential customers has a cheaper "solar soak" period from 11am to 4pm and a peak from 4pm to 9pm. Jemena also offers an opt-in export tariff to all residential customers, which credits exports from 4pm to 9pm and can charge for exports in the middle of the day above a basic allowance.

On Powercor's network

Powercor asks your installer to lodge a solar pre-approval through its eConnect portal before you sign a contract. It then assesses the local network and sets your export limit, which can vary from street to street. If that comes back at 0 kW, Powercor offers some customers a flexible exports connection instead, letting them export up to their inverter's capacity (to a maximum of 10 kW) most of the time. In Powercor's 12-month trial, participants exported freely more than 90 per cent of the time.

From 1 July 2026, Time of Use is Powercor's default network tariff for new connections and homes connecting solar for the first time: Saver from 11am to 4pm, Peak from 4pm to 9pm, Off-Peak from 9pm to 11am. Powercor also has a Consumer Energy Resource tariff for homes with batteries, which adds a network credit of about 7.7 cents per kWh for exports between 4pm and 9pm in summer and winter, and a charge of about 1.1 cents per kWh on exports between 11am and 4pm in spring, summer and autumn.

These are network tariffs. Your retailer chooses how they appear on your bill, so the network tariff that looks cheapest isn't always the cheapest plan.

The common ground

Whichever network you're on, the picture is the same. Midday power is plentiful and cheap. Evening power is scarce and dear. Victoria's Midday Power Saver adds free power from 11am to 2pm on a plan every retailer must offer (with a 24 kWh daily fair use cap), and Victoria has had no minimum feed-in tariff since 30 June 2025.

So the questions that decide a good design are about your household: when you cook, when the air conditioner or heating runs, whether someone is home during the day, whether there's an electric car in the garage. Shifting the dishwasher, washing machine, pool pump or car charging into the 11am to 4pm window is the cheapest improvement you can make. A battery then carries the house through the evening.

Already have solar?

If your home already has an older system, you have options, but they come with rules. Adding panels, replacing the inverter or adding a battery counts as an upgrade, and both networks require new, upgraded and replacement systems to meet the emergency backstop rules. That usually means an inverter that can stay online and be controlled remotely, and it may mean a fresh export assessment.

An older system can also be underperforming without anyone noticing. A modern monitoring app shows your generation hour by hour, and a sudden drop on a sunny day is the first sign of a fault. Our Balanced and Premium tiers include remote fault monitoring, so a problem gets flagged rather than quietly costing you for months.

Help with a battery

The federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program creates 6.8 STCs per usable kWh for batteries installed up to 31 December 2026: full value for the first 14 kWh, 60 per cent from 14 to 28 kWh and 15 per cent from 28 to 50 kWh. From 1 January 2027 it falls to 5.7 per kWh. Solar Victoria's solar panel rebate also remains open for eligible households, at up to $1,400 with an optional interest-free loan of up to $1,400.

Who we are

We're a local installer based in New Gisborne. Our installers are accredited through Solar Accreditation Australia, every system is independently inspected by a licensed Electrical Inspector, and we handle the rebates and paperwork, whichever network you're on.

Find out more about home batteries, or get a quote and bring your latest power bill.