A 6.6kW system, a 10kW system, a battery retrofit: the indicative Hunter ranges, and why payback depends on your daytime usage and tariff, not the sticker price. Sizing to the bill is what makes a system pay back, and we show the working.
The honest answer to what solar costs is a range, because the price depends on hardware, roof and switchboard, not just kilowatts. Below are indicative Hunter figures, and more usefully, the two things that actually decide whether the system pays for itself: your daytime usage and your tariff. For a tighter number on your own roof, the estimator on our solar pricing page is the place to start.
These are after-STC figures for a standard single-storey install with a switchboard in good order. Roof complexity, hardware tier and any board work move you within and sometimes above the range.
A two-thousand-dollar gap between quotes for the same kW is normal, and it is usually explained by the inverter brand, the cable sizing and whether the switchboard line is included. The cheaper quote is not always the better deal; often it is the same job with three lines left off.
Solar pays you the retail rate when you use the power as it is generated, and a much smaller export rate when you send it to the grid. So the system's value is set by how much of your generation you consume yourself. A home that runs a pool pump, air conditioning or a workshop through the day pays the system off years faster than an identical home that is empty until evening. This is why the sticker price tells you less than your own consumption profile does.
We size the system to your bill and show you the load calc behind it. The cheap quote sizes to the rebate and hopes you never check.
The STC discount scales with system size, which gives an installer a reason to push you toward a bigger array than your usage justifies. Sizing to the bill means reading twelve months of consumption, finding your daytime load, and matching the array to it. Sometimes that means a smaller system than the salesperson wants to sell. The consumption analysis is the part of the quote that proves the size was chosen for you. If it is missing, the size was chosen for the rebate. See what a solar quote should include for the full anatomy.
Before any site visit, the estimator on our /pricing page lets you enter your roof and quarterly bill and returns a narrowed range. It will not replace the load calc from a site inspection, but it stops you comparing quotes blind. If a battery is on your mind, read do I need a battery next, since storage changes both the cost and the payback maths.
The price of solar is real but secondary. What decides whether it was a good buy is whether the system was sized to how you actually use power. Get that right and the range above becomes an investment; get it wrong and even the cheapest quote is overpriced.