wattbench
Live connection authority

Find the network. Verify the approval.

Choose the distributor shown on the site record, then use its live page for connection rules, application requirements and approved settings. Wattbench does not cache a generic export limit.

Sources listedReviewed September 2026Our methodology

Fast authority handoff

Select the site state or territory, then confirm the distributor from the bill, NMI record or connection approval before opening its live requirements.

Field sequence

  1. 01

    Confirm the electricity distributor on the bill, NMI record or connection approval — not from the postcode, which can be supplied by two networks.

  2. 02

    Open that distributor’s live connection guidance before finalising the design.

  3. 03

    Keep the approved capacity, export conditions and required settings with the job evidence.

  4. 04

    Commission against the approval and record the as-built result.

Confirm the distributor from the site record before relying on a link. Embedded networks, remote grids and private networks may use a different authority and are not inferred here. The connection offer and site-specific approval override general web guidance.

ACT

1 network
ACT

Evoenergy

Evoenergy is the main distributor in the ACT, though not the only one. Its portal is the most prescriptive of any network here — it publishes exactly what sends an application to manual review, and it validates the submission in ways that reject on detail rather than on substance.

Full breakdownOpen DER connection portal guidance
Before you apply
What they assess
  • Approval is design-specific. The application reaching its awaiting-commissioning state is the signal that installation may proceed. Change the system after that and the application is withdrawn, amended and re-approved rather than proceeding as installed.
  • The auto-approve triggers are published. Some applications approve on submission and others divert to manual review, and the causes are stated: existing equipment on site or in the national register, an export limit, a battery, a greenfield application, an address problem, or another application already open on that site — including one lodged by a different installer.
  • The network files with AEMO, not the installer. The commissioning form is completed in the same portal and the network writes the data to the national register itself. The application only reaches complete once that update has been made.
Where it snags
  • One active application per site, because two open applications overwrite each other in the national register. An application containing an error is withdrawn and corrected rather than replaced with a second one — and a competitor's open application on the same site will block yours. Evoenergy — DER Portal user guide
  • The nameplate photo for a retained inverter attaches to that inverter item, not to the application's attachments tab. Put it in the obvious place and submission validation fails, because nothing tells the system which inverter it belongs to. Evoenergy — DER Portal user guide
  • Two equipment lists apply and they are not in sync. The portal keeps its own catalogue that lags new additions to the industry approved list, and the documented answer is to declare the item unavailable in the catalogue, type the specifications manually and add a note — not to wait for the catalogue to catch up. Evoenergy — DER Portal user guide
  • An alteration is an application, warranty work included. Every change to an existing system needs its own application through the portal, and that covers swapping a failed inverter under warranty — a like-for-like replacement is not exempt from lodging, only from the fee. Evoenergy — Distributed Energy Resource Portal
  • A battery, an export limit or added capacity on an existing system makes a residential application complex, and a complex application carries a processing fee the network invoices to the installer once it is lodged. Settle who carries that fee at quoting, not after the invoice arrives. Evoenergy — Distributed Energy Resource Portal
  • Some work bypasses the portal entirely. Adding backup circuits only, or removing equipment without installing anything new, goes by email to the embedded generation address, because the form requires at least one item flagged as a new install and otherwise fails validation. Evoenergy — DER Portal user guide
Go straight to
  • DER portalApplications, commissioning and the register update all happen here.
  • DER portal user guideThe most useful document this network publishes — it names the rejection triggers outright.

NSW

3 networks
NSW

Ausgrid

Ausgrid distributes across Sydney, the Central Coast and the Hunter. Its process is unusually spread out: the application is one system, the equipment register is another run by AEMO, and the compliance certificate is a third — each with its own deadline, and the network only owns the first.

Full breakdownOpen solar and embedded-generation guidance
Before you apply
What they assess
  • Installer lodges, and installer credentials are checked. The application is submitted by the installer on the customer's behalf, and eligibility is tested against more than one credential: current SAA accreditation, a valid NSW electrical licence, and the relevant manufacturer training completed before design or installation.
  • Closing out means three lodgements, not one. The connection application, the compliance certificate and the AEMO register entry are separate obligations in separate places, each running its own clock from the work.
  • The job can be audited after it closes. Installations are subject to post-connection audit, so the paperwork has to survive scrutiny well after the site is packed up.
Where it snags
  • The AEMO register entry is keyed to a job number the network emails out on approval — to whichever address was typed into the application form. Get that address wrong and the installer never receives the key needed to finish the registration, with nothing on site to indicate anything is outstanding. Ausgrid — the Distributed Energy Resources Register
  • Equipment entered on the application has to be consistent with what the AEMO register will accept. A mismatch is not tidied up downstream: it forces a fresh application, and that cost falls on the customer. Ausgrid — the Distributed Energy Resources Register
  • The inverter has to clear several independent checks before it is bought, not one — CSIP-AUS compliance, the technical standard the network names, configuration to the network's own required settings, and presence on the industry approved list or a written approval issued by the network for that make and model. Confirming compatibility before installation sits with the installer, and a unit that fails any of them will not be approved for connection. Ausgrid — information for solar retailers and installers
  • A granted approval expires. A job delayed past its validity window is reapplied for rather than resumed, which makes the approval date a scheduling constraint rather than a filing detail. Ausgrid — how to get connected
Go straight to
NSW

Endeavour Energy

Endeavour Energy distributes across Sydney’s Greater West, the Blue Mountains, the Southern Highlands, the Illawarra and the NSW South Coast. Its conditions fall on the installer and the equipment as well as the site: the installer must hold accreditation and a licence, the inverter has to clear a set of checks before it is bought, and the work follows the approved connection contract and its site-specific conditions.

Full breakdownOpen solar-installer requirements
Before you apply
What they assess
  • Permission to Connect is a named artefact. Approval is issued as a Permission to Connect, downloadable from the project in the Connections Portal. A solar retailer needs the reference number from an approved application to complete its own registration as an applicant in the NSW CER Installer Portal; approved jobs then pass into that portal, where the retailer allocates each one to an installer.
  • Several inverter gates, not one. Before it is bought, the unit must be CSIP-AUS compliant, meet the technical standard the page names and both parts of AS/NZS 4777, be configured to the network's own required inverter settings, and be listed by the Clean Energy Council or carry written network approval for that make and model — clearing the list does not clear the configuration.
  • The compliance certificate does not go to the network. The installer lodges the Certificate of Compliance for Electrical Work with Building Commission NSW, inside the deadline the page states; the network says it neither keeps solar certificates nor needs a copy. For eligible new and upgraded systems submitted and approved from 2 November 2026, the Installation Notification and the certificate go through the NSW CER Installer Portal instead, which the NSW Government says also covers the AEMO DER Register record, with device registration checks and capability testing phased in by postcode. The network's Connect supply or relocate assets page, under Connect a generator, still tells installers to enter the system on AEMO's register themselves, using the reference on the Permission to Connect letter — confirm which route the job is on.
  • The job can be audited after connection. The network audits some installations after connection, sometimes months later, and can disconnect an unsafe system immediately — the installation has to stand up to inspection long after the site is packed up.
Where it snags
  • An address outside the supply area fails silently in the portal: the site simply does not highlight on the map and no address row appears. There is no error explaining why, and the documented fallback is an email rather than a portal path — so treat an unresolvable address as a service-area question before assuming it is a form-filling problem. Endeavour Energy — Connections Portal user guide
  • Metering upgrades for a new solar installation sit with the retailer, not the network — the network's own responsibility table assigns them to the retailer. Treat the meter as a retailer service order to raise and confirm, not as something that follows automatically from approval. Endeavour Energy — your meter
  • Portal registration forks on a customer-type choice, and the accredited service provider path demands an accreditation number the retail path does not. Registration also completes multi-factor authentication against a mobile number, which makes a shared office account awkward to operate. Endeavour Energy — Connections Portal user guide
  • Pre-existing generation at the site has to be declared on the same application — the generator step asks for existing, new and removed capacity together, so a site with an earlier system is not a fresh application in the network's eyes. Endeavour Energy — Connections Portal user guide
  • Once an approved application has passed to the NSW CER Installer Portal, it can be amended or cancelled only while it sits there at ‘Awaiting Installation’ and before installation has started. Changes made in the Connections Portal flow through to the installer portal, and a cancellation cancels it there too — so an equipment change has to be settled before work starts. Endeavour Energy — how to submit a generator application
Go straight to
  • Solar retailers and installersAccreditation, the pre-purchase inverter checks, the NSW CER Installer Portal changeover and emergency backstop requirements.
  • Connections Portal user guideStep-by-step of the lodgement wizard, including the registration fork and the map step.
  • Network capacity mapAvailable capacity by postcode or feeder — the network’s own surface for judging whether a larger solar or battery job needs more than the standard pathway.
NSW

Essential Energy

Essential Energy covers regional, rural and remote New South Wales — the largest of the three NSW footprints. Two things shape the work here: the design is fixed at approval, and the installer carries the compliance regardless of who lodged the application.

Full breakdownOpen small-generation connection guidance
Before you apply
What they assess
  • The installer must hold the approval, not just rely on it. A copy of the approved application has to be in hand before installing and connecting. Where the installer was not the original applicant, they request the approved application, the single line diagram and the voltage rise calculation from whoever lodged it.
  • Intent to Connect sits between approval and work. After approval and before work starts, the contractor doing the job lodges an intent to connect nominating the planned dates. More than one can run against a single application, and the nominated date arms the reminders that chase the completion paperwork.
  • Compliance follows the installer. Compliance rests with the installing contractor, and a non-conformance found later is issued to whoever submitted the compliance certificate — who is then responsible for rectifying it.
Where it snags
  • There is no on-site variation path. If the system cannot be installed as drawn in the submitted single line diagram, the job cannot proceed on the existing approval — an entirely new application carrying the revised diagram and voltage rise calculation has to be lodged and reassessed before connecting. On a remote site that is the difference between finishing and returning. Essential Energy — small scale solar connections, industry
  • The intent to connect is a separate lodgement, not a section inside the application. Treating the two as one step is the usual way a regional job quietly loses a week. Essential Energy — Intent to Connect
Go straight to
  • Essential Connections portalApplications, intent to connect and the completion paperwork all go here.
  • Connections registrationThe prerequisite step. Accredited service providers register by level, electrical contractors and solar installers share one path, and solar retailers use the path for everyone else.
  • Electrical contractors hubWhere process changes are announced first — worth watching, since this network moves its lodgement channels.

NT

1 network
NT

Power and Water Corporation

Power and Water is the Northern Territory’s network operator. Its basic connection runs through three parties rather than two — the electrician applies, the network assesses, and the customer’s retailer then sends the request that actually gets the work scheduled — and remote communities on isolated power stations are handled separately from the main towns.

Full breakdownOpen basic connection guidance
Before you apply
What they assess
  • Banded by size, and by choice. Most residential and small commercial work runs as a basic connection. A job becomes negotiated either because it falls outside the basic definition or because the applicant elects to negotiate the terms — the second route is available rather than imposed.
  • Lodged by the electrician, by recommendation. The network strongly recommends a licensed electrician or electrical contractor completes the application, because it asks for technical detail about the property, the installation and the proposed connection, and incomplete answers delay assessment.
  • Assessment can pull the site into scope. A technical assessment follows lodgement and may come back asking for more information or a property inspection rather than a straight yes, and depending on the location a pre-approval may also be needed.
Where it snags
  • Approval does not schedule the work. Once the network says the application can proceed, the customer has to contact their retailer, and the connection is only scheduled after the retailer’s request and all the documentation have arrived. A job that looks stalled after approval is usually waiting on the retailer step rather than on the network. Power and Water — basic connection
  • The paperwork after the work is part of the connection, not an afterthought. A Certificate of Compliance is what finalises it, and an embedded generation connection on the negotiated path also needs its commissioning documentation submitted. Power and Water — negotiated connections
  • The network charges the cost of connecting the meter to the retailer that raised the request, and the retailer may pass it on. Worth asking the retailer about before the customer is quoted a total. Power and Water — basic connection
  • Remote communities are a separate case. They run off isolated power stations that rooftop solar can destabilise, so the network treats remote solar separately and points remote customers to their own page — start a remote job there, not from the town pathway. Power and Water — solar power and battery energy storage systems
Go straight to
  • Power connectionsThe pathway split between basic, negotiated and major connections.
  • Connections resourcesApplication forms, the commissioning certificate and connection agreements for each pathway.

QLD

2 networks
QLD

Energex

Energex distributes across south-east Queensland. It sits under Energy Queensland with Ergon Energy Network, and the two share a connection manual and run the same Electrical Partners Portal — but each network runs its own copy, and their application forms are not interchangeable, which is the distinction that catches people.

Full breakdownOpen DER connection guidance
Before you apply
What they assess
  • The installer's portal is a credential check. A retailer or installer applying for the customer lodges through the Electrical Partners Portal, and registering for it takes a current Queensland electrical contractor licence number or an accredited solar installer number. Customers can also apply themselves through a separate customer portal.
  • Three form types, and only one is right. The portal carries enquiries, connects and electrical work requests. A solar install that creates or changes a distributed energy record is a connect; the other two will not do the job.
  • Approval before installation, exporting or not. Every distributed energy system needs approval before it goes in, including systems configured never to export.
Where it snags
  • Energex and Ergon run the same portal under the same name, with the same form types, each on its own site — and an application form for one network is not interchangeable with the other. An application lodged with the wrong distributor is not considered and a new one is needed — so settle which network the NMI belongs to before logging in, not after. Energex — connection essentials
  • Picking the wrong form type costs a resubmission. An electrical work request is not a connect, and a solar job that creates or changes a distributed energy record needs the connect — the network's own portal guidance exists to stop contractors having to resubmit. Energex — portal user guides and tips
  • In south-east Queensland a change to an existing solar system, such as a new inverter or a different panel count, needs a connect but no electrical work request. A first-time install always needs both, because the work request is what sends a metering provider to site. Energex — portal user guides and tips
  • A regulated clock runs on the distributor to advise whether an application qualifies as a basic connection service. Knowing the obligation exists is the useful part — it makes a stalled application something to chase with a reference rather than something to wait out. Energex — connection essentials
Go straight to
QLD

Ergon Energy Network

Ergon Energy Network distributes across regional Queensland — everything outside the south-east corner. It shares the Queensland connection manual with Energex and runs its own copy of the same Electrical Partners Portal, with its own forms.

Full breakdownOpen DER connection guidance
Before you apply
What they assess
  • The installer's portal is a credential check. A retailer or installer applying for the customer lodges through the Electrical Partners Portal, and registering for it takes a current Queensland electrical contractor licence number or an accredited solar installer number. Customers can also apply themselves through a separate customer portal.
  • Three form types, and only one is right. The portal carries enquiries, connects and electrical work requests. A solar install that creates or changes a distributed energy record is a connect; the other two will not do the job.
  • Approval before installation, exporting or not. Every distributed energy system needs approval before it goes in, including systems configured never to export.
Where it snags
  • Energex and Ergon run the same portal under the same name, with the same form types, each on its own site — and an application form for one network is not interchangeable with the other. An application lodged with the wrong distributor is not considered and a new one is needed — so settle which network the NMI belongs to before logging in, not after. Ergon Energy Network — connection essentials
  • Picking the wrong form type costs a resubmission. An electrical work request is not a connect, and a solar job that creates or changes a distributed energy record needs the connect. The shared portal guidance, published on the Energex site, names both networks. Energex — portal user guides and tips
  • The job closes with a valid electrical work request through the portal once installation is complete — that is how the network is told the work was carried out to the required standards, so an install without one is not finished in the network's eyes. Ergon Energy Network — connection essentials
  • A high-voltage connected system leaves this pathway entirely and goes to the large customer connections group. Establish which side of that line a commercial job sits on before starting, because the two do not converge later. Ergon Energy Network — connection essentials
Go straight to

SA

1 network
SA

SA Power Networks

SA Power Networks is South Australia's main distributor, and outside some remote systems run by others there is no which-network question. The variable is access: applying and closing out happen on separate sides of one portal, and access to the close-out side is not granted the same way as registration.

Full breakdownOpen embedded-generation guidance
Before you apply
What they assess
  • One portal, two sides. The application is created from the portal's requests tab and the installation is closed out from its installations tab. Closing out is a separate step the installer owns, not something approval completes.
  • Register once, and small applications can approve instantly. Portal registration is a once-off step, and instant auto approval is available for small embedded generation applications. The user guides cover registration through application to close-out.
Where it snags
  • Close-out access is not self-service. Registering for the portal is, but an installer who needs the installations side requests that access separately by email, with a name, preferred email address and a licence or accreditation number. Discovering that on the day a job needs closing is the wrong time. SA Power Networks — how to register for the portal
  • A relevant agent has to be selected from the state government's list at application time, and it has to be one that supports the technology being installed. The same choice is then confirmed again after installation on the electronic certificate of compliance — one decision, touched twice, at two different points in the job. SA Power Networks — relevant agent
  • The network does not arrange the meter, and the system is not to be switched on until an import and export capable meter is in place. A connection can be approved and physically installed and still be waiting on a retailer's metering job. SA Power Networks — about your approval
  • On flexible exports sites the device is registered through the inverter manufacturer's own commissioning app rather than the network portal, and the network's capability test cannot run until the manufacturer confirms registration. The arrangement only becomes active once that test passes, after commissioning. SA Power Networks — flexible exports
Go straight to
  • SA Power Networks portalApplications are created from its requests tab and installations closed out from its installations tab.
  • About your approvalWhat the approval does and does not permit, including the metering precondition.
  • Embedded generation trainingThe portal's own user guides, from registration through application to close-out — worth reading before a first job depends on it.

TAS

1 network
TAS

TasNetworks

TasNetworks is Tasmania's distributor and also owns the transmission network, so both sides of a connection question sit with one organisation. Its process is sequential in a way that punishes working ahead: each step gates the next, and the retailer sits in the middle of the chain.

Full breakdownOpen embedded-generation guidance
Before you apply
What they assess
  • Whoever lodges inherits the follow-up. The customer, the electrical contractor, the solar retailer or the installer may lodge — but the party who submits is the one the later technical-data obligation comes back to.
  • The retailer sits mid-chain. Once the work is verified the metering request is forwarded to the customer's retailer, who arranges the metering — which may mean an exchange if the existing meter is not compatible.
  • Energisation is an explicit final act. The system is switched on by the installer only after the whole process including the retailer's metering step has completed. Commissioning earlier is out of sequence rather than merely early.
Where it snags
  • The as-built equipment data is a hard gate on the retailer handoff. Whoever submitted the application returns to the portal with the installed equipment details before the job moves to the retailer at all — a finished install with no as-built submission simply stalls, with nothing on site to show it. TasNetworks — getting solar connected
  • Verifying the electrical work can only be lodged from a registered electrical contractor account. A retailer-held account that lodged the application cannot finish the job without one, so the account that opens a job is not always the account that can close it. TasNetworks — getting solar connected
  • Later additions restart the paperwork rather than riding on the original approval. Additional inverters, modifications and added storage all need fresh written agreement first, and a replacement inverter has to meet the current requirements rather than the ones in force when the system went in. TasNetworks — basic micro EG technical requirements
  • Three separate evidence trails apply to the inverter — certification to the AS/NZS inverter standard by an accredited laboratory, registration on the industry approved list, and anti-islanding certification. Satisfying one does not satisfy the others. TasNetworks — basic micro EG technical requirements
Go straight to

VIC

5 networks
VIC

AusNet Services

AusNet distributes across eastern Victoria and Gippsland — the eastern half of the state. It runs its own portal, its own approved inverter list and its own smart inverter settings, so almost nothing carries across from a job on a neighbouring Victorian network.

Full breakdownOpen solar application guidance
Before you apply
What they assess
  • Pre-approval is explicit. Approval is required before installation begins rather than sought alongside it, and it is issued through AusNet's EnergyConnect portal rather than by correspondence.
  • Automatic first, paid assessment second. A straightforward site returns an automatic pre-approval immediately. Where that result does not suit the system being proposed, the pathway continues into a manual assessment that carries a fee.
  • Equipment is vetted against AusNet's own list. The approved inverter list and the smart inverter settings are maintained by AusNet, separately from any other Victorian distributor's.
Where it snags
  • The automatic result is the cheap path and the manual one is not. If a site is unusual — long runs, a constrained part of the network, an atypical system — the job is not merely slower, it is priced differently, so it belongs in the quote rather than in a later conversation. AusNet — up to 30kW connections
  • The approved inverter list is AusNet's own. An inverter accepted on another Victorian network still needs checking against this one before it is ordered, because the lists are maintained independently. AusNet — approved inverter list
  • Smart inverter settings are published separately from the inverter list. Getting the model approved and getting it configured the way AusNet expects are two different checks, and only the first is obvious from the application. AusNet — smart inverter settings
Go straight to
VIC

CitiPower

CitiPower covers Melbourne’s city and inner suburbs. It runs one installer pathway, one portal and one support team jointly with Powercor, and the job is not finished at the inverter: emergency backstop capability is a condition of connection, tested remotely before the export limit is switched on.

Full breakdownOpen connection application guidance
Before you apply
What they assess
  • Pre-approval in hand before installation. The pre-approval outcome arrives by email, and where a generator agreement is required it is signed and uploaded to eConnect for validation before installation. The customer should have their outcome and understand the terms of their connection agreement before anyone attends site.
  • Emergency backstop is a condition of connection. New, upgraded and replacement rooftop systems up to the size the page states must be emergency backstop enabled: able to communicate using CSIP-AUS and connected to the internet. The model standing offer was varied on the same basis, so keeping the system connected to the network’s utility server is the customer’s ongoing obligation, not only a commissioning step.
  • Two inverter lists, not one. The equipment is checked against the Clean Energy Council’s CSIP-AUS ready list and against the networks’ own approved inverter list. Being on one is not being on both.
  • Registration and a capability test come before close-out. Where required the device is registered with the manufacturer, the registration is verified in eConnect, and a remote capability test is run and confirmed successful before the inspection and the alteration request close the job.
  • The export limit is switched on last. A Licensed Electrical Inspector inspects the installation, and the alteration is submitted in eConnect with the Certificate of Electrical Safety, evidence of the inverter’s configured settings and serial numbers matching the AC-connected devices. The approved export limit is activated only after that paperwork is validated.
Where it snags
  • The approved export limit is activated only after every piece of paperwork clears — inspection, the certificate, the alteration lodged in eConnect. Until then a physically finished system is not exporting at what was approved, which reads to the customer as a fault in the install rather than a queue. CitiPower & Powercor — solar installer resources
  • Two lists have to agree. An inverter on the industry CSIP-AUS ready list is not necessarily on the networks’ own approved list, and both are checked. Check both before ordering, because the mismatch does not surface until the application. CitiPower & Powercor — solar installer resources
  • Since 1 November 2026 an inverter model must be listed as CSIP-AUS 1.2 compliant on both lists, and one that is not can no longer be submitted through an alteration request in the portal. Batteries and vehicle-to-grid chargers under network control are caught too. An older model may get there by a firmware update, but that is the manufacturer’s question to settle before the job, not at close-out. CitiPower & Powercor — new CSIP-AUS 1.2 requirements from 1 November 2026
  • Firmware currency and a reliable internet connection are prerequisites rather than nice-to-haves. Both are easy to satisfy on the day and awkward to fix afterwards, since the second one is the customer's to maintain. CitiPower & Powercor — solar installer resources
  • Register a device only when the job needs it. Adding to an already registered system, a battery for instance, may not need a new registration, and an unnecessary one can affect the site’s existing emergency backstop compliance status. CitiPower & Powercor — solar installer resources
  • The capability test has preconditions: the registration takes a few minutes to reach the network’s server, and the array has to be generating above a minimum the page states, with any battery operating as described. Plan the close-out for when the array is producing, not as the last task of a late finish. CitiPower & Powercor — solar installer resources
Go straight to
VIC

Jemena

Jemena distributes across north-west Melbourne. Its process is equipment-strict at both ends: an inverter that is not on Jemena’s own approved list cannot be connected or commissioned, and the system exports only at a low static limit until Jemena has finished its own remote testing and commissioning, then drops back to it if the inverter goes offline.

Full breakdownOpen solar and renewable connection guidance
Before you apply
What they assess
  • Two inverter lists, both checked. The inverter must be on the Clean Energy Council’s CSIP-AUS compliant list and on Jemena’s own approved list. Jemena states that an inverter not on its list cannot connect to or be commissioned on its network.
  • Pre-approval where needed, commissioning to close. An Approve My Generation or Battery Storage application goes in before installation where the job needs one. A Commission My Inverter application through My Portal closes the job.
  • Installed at a low static export limit. The inverter goes in on the region setting the page names, with a low static export limit the page states. On a site with existing solar, the old inverters are either upgraded to CSIP-AUS compliant ones or held at that same low static limit.
  • Commissioning evidence is gathered on site. The inverter is registered through the manufacturer’s portal and its LFDI obtained, and a Licensed Electrical Inspector signs off and issues the CES. The Commission My Inverter application carries photos of the inverter settings and the static export limit, with the CES, the LFDI and the NMI. The inverter is left on and online so Jemena can do its part.
  • Jemena’s testing is its own phase. Jemena tests the system remotely before commissioning it. The higher export limit applies only once that has succeeded; until then the low static limit stays.
Where it snags
  • Applications up to the size the page states are rejected if the inverter is not on Jemena’s approved list, and the list is checked at the Commission My Inverter stage too. The wrong model does not surface as a question; it surfaces as a rejection after the work is done. Jemena adds to the list as it tests more manufacturers, so check it when the equipment is ordered. Jemena — solar installer support hub
  • A rejected Commission my CSIP-Aus form means the AC and DC switches go off until the inverter’s AS 4777.2 settings are fixed and a new form is resubmitted. The customer is left with a system switched off, not one exporting at a reduced limit, so get the settings photos right the first time. Jemena — solar installer support hub
  • The inverter has to stay online. If Jemena cannot reach it, export is cut to the low limit the page states, which makes the customer’s internet a live part of the install rather than a convenience. Show them how to check and reconnect it at handover, and tell them there may be planned testing for ongoing compliance, because the consequence arrives months later and looks like a fault. Jemena — solar installer support hub
  • Where the meter needs reconfiguring, the service order goes through the customer’s chosen retailer. If the site is not reconfigured, the meter does not record exported energy and the customer receives no feed-in credits, which reads to them as the system not working. Jemena — solar installer support hub
  • Whether a battery brings the site into the backstop depends on how it is coupled. Jemena’s exemption table treats a new AC-coupled battery on its own as a non-backstop application, but a DC-coupled battery sharing a new hybrid inverter with solar makes both of them backstop jobs. A battery added where the existing solar was approved from 1 October 2024 and is not backstop enabled may have its export limited until that solar is commissioned for the backstop. Jemena — Victoria’s emergency backstop mechanism
  • The emergency backstop is the question customers ask after the sale, not before it. In a minimum system load event Jemena is directed by AEMO to reduce solar exports, and may switch systems off briefly. Explaining that it is a network-wide arrangement rather than a fault in their system saves the call-back. Jemena — Victoria’s emergency backstop mechanism
Go straight to
  • My PortalThe pre-approval, where needed, and the Commission My Inverter application are both lodged here.
  • Installer troubleshooting guideJemena’s own guide to what goes wrong in the portal and on site.
  • Victoria’s emergency backstopThe exemption table for battery and solar combinations, and the explanation to hand a customer asking why their system was curtailed.
VIC

Powercor

Powercor covers Melbourne’s western suburbs and western Victoria. It runs one installer pathway, one portal and one support team jointly with CitiPower, and the job is not finished at the inverter: emergency backstop capability is a condition of connection, tested remotely before the export limit is switched on.

Full breakdownOpen connection application guidance
Before you apply
What they assess
  • Pre-approval in hand before installation. The pre-approval outcome arrives by email, and where a generator agreement is required it is signed and uploaded to eConnect for validation before installation. The customer should have their outcome and understand the terms of their connection agreement before anyone attends site.
  • Emergency backstop is a condition of connection. New, upgraded and replacement rooftop systems up to the size the page states must be emergency backstop enabled: able to communicate using CSIP-AUS and connected to the internet. The model standing offer was varied on the same basis, so keeping the system connected to the network’s utility server is the customer’s ongoing obligation, not only a commissioning step.
  • Two inverter lists, not one. The equipment is checked against the Clean Energy Council’s CSIP-AUS ready list and against the networks’ own approved inverter list. Being on one is not being on both.
  • Registration and a capability test come before close-out. Where required the device is registered with the manufacturer, the registration is verified in eConnect, and a remote capability test is run and confirmed successful before the inspection and the alteration request close the job.
  • The export limit is switched on last. A Licensed Electrical Inspector inspects the installation, and the alteration is submitted in eConnect with the Certificate of Electrical Safety, evidence of the inverter’s configured settings and serial numbers matching the AC-connected devices. The approved export limit is activated only after that paperwork is validated.
Where it snags
  • The approved export limit is activated only after every piece of paperwork clears — inspection, the certificate, the alteration lodged in eConnect. Until then a physically finished system is not exporting at what was approved, which reads to the customer as a fault in the install rather than a queue. CitiPower & Powercor — solar installer resources
  • Two lists have to agree. An inverter on the industry CSIP-AUS ready list is not necessarily on the networks’ own approved list, and both are checked. Check both before ordering, because the mismatch does not surface until the application. CitiPower & Powercor — solar installer resources
  • Since 1 November 2026 an inverter model must be listed as CSIP-AUS 1.2 compliant on both lists, and one that is not can no longer be submitted through an alteration request in the portal. Batteries and vehicle-to-grid chargers under network control are caught too. An older model may get there by a firmware update, but that is the manufacturer’s question to settle before the job, not at close-out. CitiPower & Powercor — new CSIP-AUS 1.2 requirements from 1 November 2026
  • Firmware currency and a reliable internet connection are prerequisites rather than nice-to-haves. Both are easy to satisfy on the day and awkward to fix afterwards, since the second one is the customer's to maintain. CitiPower & Powercor — solar installer resources
  • Register a device only when the job needs it. Adding to an already registered system, a battery for instance, may not need a new registration, and an unnecessary one can affect the site’s existing emergency backstop compliance status. CitiPower & Powercor — solar installer resources
  • The capability test has preconditions: the registration takes a few minutes to reach the network’s server, and the array has to be generating above a minimum the page states, with any battery operating as described. Plan the close-out for when the array is producing, not as the last task of a late finish. CitiPower & Powercor — solar installer resources
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VIC

United Energy

United Energy covers Melbourne’s east and south-east suburbs and the Mornington Peninsula. It runs its own portal, myEnergy, and a named Solar Pre-Approval that expires. The close-out runs in a fixed order: backstop registration, a remote capability test, inspection, then the alteration request, and only after that is the approved export limit switched on.

Full breakdownOpen solar pre-approval guidance
Before you apply
What they assess
  • The Solar Pre-Approval is a named artefact. Pre-approval is required for every solar and battery installation. It is submitted through myEnergy before equipment goes in, and has to be approved and valid before anyone attends site.
  • Anyone can lodge it. The customer or a representative can apply: a solar retailer, an accredited installer, an REC or an LEW. The outcome goes by email to the customer, the applicant and any other parties the applicant nominates.
  • Three possible outcomes. Approved as applied for, approved at a lower export, or approved for self-consumption with no export. Most come back within minutes; one that needs a manual assessment takes longer and arrives by email.
  • Emergency backstop is a condition of connection. New, upgraded and replacement rooftop systems up to the size the page states must be emergency backstop enabled: able to communicate using CSIP-AUS and connected to the internet. The inverter is checked against the Clean Energy Council’s CSIP-AUS list and United Energy’s onboarded inverters list, and is installed with an export limiting meter.
  • Register, test, then close out. The inverter is registered through the manufacturer’s app, an LFDI is created and verified, and the registration is confirmed with United Energy. A capability test runs once the array is generating above the minimum the page states. A Licensed Electrical Inspector then inspects, and the alteration is submitted in myEnergy with the Certificate of Electrical Safety. The approved export limit is activated only after the alteration is completed and the paperwork validated.
  • The meter is reconfigured through the retailer. After the alteration, United Energy sends the paperwork to the customer’s retailer to request a service order, and reconfigures the meter once that order arrives.
Where it snags
  • The pre-approval expires. Let it lapse and a new pre-approval has to be obtained, which is the worst possible news to get after the system is already installed. The validity is stated on the help page and the approval itself; check it, because it is the kind of window that changes. United Energy — myEnergy help
  • Where the system or export sits outside the model standing offer, a generation deed is required, and it carries its own shorter signing deadline running from when the pre-approval issued. Miss it and the pre-approval expires. Two clocks, different lengths, both started by the same event. United Energy — myEnergy help
  • An alteration request can be refused for an invalid pre-approval before the pre-approval has expired. The usual cause is that it was never finalised: the generator agreement or the single-line diagram has not been uploaded to it, or what was uploaded was not valid, which shows as a Pending Action in myEnergy. United Energy — myEnergy help
  • A pre-approval can come back at a lower export, or with no export at all, because the outcome rests on the capacity of the neighbourhood network. United Energy says to factor that into the system size, so the outcome belongs in the quote rather than at handover. If capacity frees up later, it invites the applicant to reapply. United Energy — myEnergy help
  • Since 1 November 2026 an inverter model must be listed as CSIP-AUS 1.2 compliant on both lists, and one that is not can no longer be submitted through an alteration request in the portal. Batteries and vehicle-to-grid chargers under network control are caught too. An older model may get there by a firmware update, but that is the manufacturer’s question to settle before the job, not at close-out. United Energy — new CSIP-AUS 1.2 requirements from 1 November 2026
  • Register for myEnergy as the trade from the start. An REC, LEW or solar installer who does not answer ‘Yes’ to the electrician-or-installer question hits problems submitting applications, and converting a customer account to a trade account means de-registering it, which deletes any current applications on it. United Energy — myEnergy help
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WA

2 networks
WA

Western Power

Western Power runs the network that makes up most of the South West Interconnected System — Perth and the connected south-west. Everything outside that footprint is Horizon Power's, on separate systems, so the first question on any regional job is which of the two the site actually sits on.

Full breakdownOpen embedded-generation connection guidance
Before you apply
What they assess
  • Application before installation. An embedded generation connection application is required before the work, not after it. Approval is a precondition of the install rather than a formality that follows it.
  • Covers changes, not just new systems. Changing or relocating an existing inverter, or adding a second generation source such as a battery, opens an application in its own right — an existing approval does not carry over to the altered system.
  • Assessed against a rated capacity band. The pathway is banded by inverter rated capacity, so establishing which band the system falls in decides which process, and which page, applies before anything else.
Where it snags
  • The connection is the property owner's, not the installer's. An installer can lodge and track it, but only once the owner has authorised them to apply on their behalf — worth settling at quoting, because it is a prerequisite to lodging rather than a step inside it. Western Power — inverter system connection
  • A strata or otherwise shared connection has to go through the management body before the application, not alongside it. On multi-dwelling sites that consultation, not the network, is usually what sets the timeline. Western Power — inverter system connection
  • Lodging and tracking happen in different places. The application is submitted from the connection page, then followed in a separate status portal — so a job with no visible progress is often being tracked on the wrong surface.
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WA

Horizon Power

Horizon Power serves regional and remote Western Australia outside the South West Interconnected System, across separate systems — the Pilbara’s own interconnected network, the East Kimberley network and standalone town microgrids — rather than one grid. Capacity is a question about the specific town, and every new rooftop connection is energy managed.

Full breakdownOpen installer connection guidance
Before you apply
What they assess
  • Written approval before installation. Every renewable connection is reviewed by the network before installation, and no installation proceeds until approval has been received in writing.
  • Capacity is assessed per town. Available capacity is reported back during the application rather than assumed from a statewide position, because each town network is assessed on its own terms.
  • Energy management is the default, not a town-by-town option. New rooftop connections are energy managed through a Secure Gateway Device the network supplies, and join its Community Wave virtual power plant. The published connection standards make energy management mandatory on both the basic and the low-voltage pathways, so the question is which pathway applies, not whether the system will be managed.
Where it snags
  • Two gates sit with the installer rather than the application. Installing Smart Connect Solar needs the network’s own micro-accreditation through Solar Accreditation Australia, and on basic connections only selected inverter makes and models are compatible with the Secure Gateway Device so far. Confirm both while quoting — an approval in hand does not complete a job the installer is not accredited for, or one built around an inverter the gateway cannot manage. Horizon Power — connect solar and battery, installer information
  • Treat capacity as a per-town fact with a date on it. The network’s own guidance says what can be installed differs between its towns, and capacity is reported during the application — so a position someone hit on an earlier job is not evidence of the position in that town today, let alone in a neighbouring one. Horizon Power — what is generation management
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