Early access · Australia
The answer is a range, not one number. Your postcode sets the typical sunshine; your roof's direction and shade change it from there. Your electricity plan and how much of that power you use at home decide what it is worth. We plan postcode pages that show your zone's sunshine, the plans on sale in your area and a range for your own home use, from public data, with every assumption named. Roof direction and shade are for your installer to measure. First pages: NSW, ACT, VIC, QLD, SA and TAS.
Join the list for your postcode's page1
The Clean Energy Regulator puts every postcode in one of four solar zones and rates how much electricity each kilowatt of panels makes in a year. Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth share one rating. It is the standard figure used for rebates, not a measurement of your roof.
2
Every kWh you use yourself saves your usage rate. Every kWh you export earns your feed-in tariff, which is usually far lower. Both come from your electricity plan, and many retailers publish their plans' rates in a public government data scheme (the Consumer Data Right).
3
This is the input that moves the answer most, and no public dataset gives it per postcode. It depends on your household: who is home in the day, a battery, an EV, a pool pump.
| Zone | kWh per kW of panels per year | Postcodes | For example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,622 | 42 | 0870 Alice Springs |
| 2 | 1,536 | 180 | 0800 Darwin, 6725 Broome |
| 3 | 1,382 | 2,018 | 2000 Sydney, 2600 Canberra, 4000 Brisbane, 5000 Adelaide, 6000 Perth |
| 4 | 1,185 | 570 | 3000 Melbourne, 7000 Hobart |
Source: Clean Energy Regulator, postcode zone ratings for solar systems (as of 1 January 2020). Postcode counts: the real postcodes in the Regulator's small-scale installation data to August 2026, matched to the zone table. These are the standard ratings used for rebate certificates, not a measurement of your roof.
| City | 6 kW installed | Per watt |
|---|---|---|
| Perth | $5,070 | $0.85 |
| Adelaide | $5,360 | $0.89 |
| Sydney | $5,710 | $0.95 |
| Canberra | $5,720 | $0.95 |
| Melbourne | $5,790 | $0.97 |
| Brisbane | $6,250 | $1.04 |
| Hobart | $7,310 | $1.22 |
| Darwin | $9,890 | $1.65 |
Source: Solar Choice price index, September 2026: prices after the small-scale rebate, including GST. A broker's published price index for capital cities; its method and sample size are not published. Your quote will differ.
Take a 6 kW system in Sydney (zone 3) at $5,710. It makes about 8,300 kWh a year. Value used power at the Ausgrid default market offer rate for 2026-27 (33.14c per kWh, AER; a price cap, and most market plans charge less, which would make payback longer) and exported power at 4.95c (the middle of the NSW regulator IPART's 3.4c to 6.5c benchmark range for 2026-27, as reported by Energy Matters on 8 July 2026). Then change only the share of solar used at home:
about 6.5 years
if you use 20% of your solar at home
about 5.1 years
if you use 30% at home
Same roof, same postcode, same plan: payback moves by almost a year and a half. We picked 20% and 30% only to show the effect; they are not measured values. A battery raises the share you use at home, but it adds its own cost, which this example does not include. A CSIRO study of metered homes (Goldsworthy, Solar Energy Advances, 2025) reports higher shares for 2023, which would shorten payback; we are still checking how it defines them. A single number would hide the input that matters most, so our postcode pages will show a range and let you put in your own usage. This example is arithmetic on the public figures above, not a quote or advice.
We plan to build the postcode pages, with the plans on sale in your area. Leave your postcode and we will email you when yours is ready. Free, and nothing else is sent.
First pages will cover NSW, the ACT, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania. WA and NT plans are not in the public plan data yet; if your postcode starts with 6 or 08, we will email you only if that changes within 12 months; after that we delete your signup.
No. We do not sell or install solar. We plan to earn money from installers: if you ask to be put in touch, the installers who receive your enquiry pay us for it. We only pass on your details when you ask us to.
A calculator that asks for one tariff holds it fixed. Your plan's usage rate and feed-in tariff change often, and they decide what your solar is worth. Our postcode pages will use the plans on sale in your area. At first they cover NSW, the ACT, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania: WA and NT plans are not in the public plan data.
We are asking installers what they would pay for enquiries from homeowners who have seen their postcode's numbers. See the installer page.