Your bill went up after solar? Here is what is really going on.
It is one of the most common — and most frustrating — surprises after going solar. The honest news: it is usually not a faulty system. It is three things sellers rarely spell out, plus a few clear signs of when something genuinely is wrong. Here is how to tell the difference.
Reviewed by Josh, Mission Green Energy Team · Updated July 2026
Why did my bill go up
after getting solar?
In most cases it is not a broken system — it is three things the sales pitch tends to skip: the fixed daily supply charge, feed-in tariffs that have fallen sharply, and when you actually use your power. The fix is usually behaviour, not buying more panels.
Let us be straight with you, because a lot of solar sellers won't be. Solar almost never makes a bill go to zero, and for some households the first bill after install actually looks higher than expected. That is upsetting when you were promised savings — but the usual causes have nothing to do with your panels being faulty. They come down to three things:
- The daily supply charge. You still pay a fixed daily fee just to stay connected to the grid — every day, even when your solar covers all your usage.
- Feed-in tariffs have collapsed. The credit you earn for exporting surplus solar has fallen sharply, so exporting now earns very little. The value has moved to using your own solar, not selling it.
- Usage timing and behaviour. If your big loads run at night on grid power, your panels never offset them, no matter how well they generate during the day.
Add a general rise in electricity prices, a hot or cold quarter that pushed up heating or cooling, and a billing period that happens to catch a stretch of cloudy weather, and a bill can climb even with a perfectly healthy system. The honest fix for almost everyone is behaviour and self-consumption, not spending more on panels. That said, sometimes a system genuinely is underperforming — and we will show you exactly how to check that safely further down. If you are weighing up whether solar was worth it at all, our honest take is in is solar worth it in 2026.
The daily supply charge
you pay no matter what.
Every grid-connected home pays a fixed daily charge just to stay connected — regardless of how much power it draws. Solar doesn't remove it, and on a low-usage bill it can quietly become the biggest line item.
The daily supply charge — sometimes called the service-to-property or fixed charge — is a set amount your retailer bills every single day just to keep you connected to the grid. It is charged whether you use 30 kilowatt-hours or none, and it does not go away when you install solar.
Here is the twist that catches people out. Because the charge is fixed, when solar slashes your usage costs, the supply charge doesn't shrink with them — so it becomes a bigger and bigger slice of a smaller bill. A household that has cut its grid usage right down can open the bill and find the supply charge now dominates it. That is not a fault, and it is not your solar failing. It is simply the part of the bill solar was never going to touch.
The only ways to remove it entirely are to go fully off-grid or disconnect from the grid — which most homes don't want to do, because grid backup matters for reliability. For almost everyone, the supply charge is a normal, unavoidable cost of staying connected. Knowing it is there is half the battle: it explains a big chunk of "but I have solar, why am I still paying so much?"
Feed-in tariffs have
fallen sharply.
The credit you earn for exporting surplus solar has dropped a lot across Australia. Exporting is no longer where the money is — self-consuming your own solar is. This one shift changes the whole strategy.
A feed-in tariff is the per-kilowatt-hour credit your retailer pays you for the surplus solar you send back to the grid. For years it was generous, and plenty of early solar owners built their expectations around it. It has since fallen sharply almost everywhere in Australia.
The reason is simple, and it is a market shift, not a fault. So much rooftop solar now floods the grid in the middle of the day that the wholesale value of that midday energy has dropped — and retailers have cut their feed-in rates to match. If you signed up years ago on a healthy rate and have since moved onto a new or renewed plan, you may now be paid a fraction of what you once were for the exact same exported energy.
This is the single most important mindset change for solar owners today: the value of solar is no longer in selling your surplus — it is in self-consuming it. Every kilowatt-hour you use from your own panels saves you the full grid rate you would otherwise pay, which is worth far more than the small credit you would earn exporting it. In a couple of states this is sharpened further by two-way export pricing (the "sun tax"), live in New South Wales and South Australia, which can add a small network charge on large midday exports. If your export credits have quietly shrunk to almost nothing, that is why — and it is fixable through how you use your power, which is next.
When you use power
matters as much as how much.
Solar only offsets what you use while the sun is up. Run the big loads at night on grid power and your panels never touch them — which is why two identical systems can produce wildly different bills.
Your panels generate during daylight. If you are out all day and your heaviest power use — heating, cooling, the dryer, the dishwasher, the oven, charging an EV — happens after dark, then you are buying that power from the grid at the full rate while your solar was busy exporting for a tiny feed-in credit hours earlier. You get the low export price on the way out and pay the high import price on the way back in.
That is why behaviour is the biggest lever most households have, and it costs nothing:
- Shift big loads into daylight. Put the dishwasher, washing machine and dryer on a daytime timer so they run while your panels are producing.
- Pre-heat or pre-cool. Warm or cool the house in the afternoon on solar so it coasts into the evening, instead of running the air conditioner hard at night on grid power.
- Heat water and charge the car by day. Time your hot-water system and any EV charging for the middle of the day rather than overnight.
Do this and you convert cheap or free solar into power you would otherwise have bought at peak rates — often a bigger saving than any hardware upgrade. If, after self-consuming as much as you can, you still have real evening and overnight usage, that is the point at which a battery starts to make sense. We walk through when it does and doesn't in our is solar worth it and solar payback guides.
How do I tell if my system
is genuinely underperforming?
Usually the bill is explained by the three causes above. But sometimes a system really is underperforming — and there are a few clear, safe signs you can check yourself before calling anyone out.
Generation far below expectation
On a clear, sunny day, your system should be producing close to its expected output around the middle of the day. If your app or inverter shows generation far below what a bright day should give, that is worth investigating — compare it to how it performed when the system was new.
A fault light or error code
A red or amber warning light on the inverter, or an error code on its screen or app, is a genuine signal something needs attention. Note the exact code — do not open the unit — and check it against your inverter manual or the manufacturer's support page.
Zero export when the sun is out
If your monitoring shows no generation or no export at all in the middle of a sunny day while you are using little power, the system may not be feeding in at all. Our guide to solar that stopped exporting to the grid covers this exact symptom.
The good news is you can do a lot of this checking safely from your phone. Open your inverter or monitoring app on a bright day, look at the live generation figure around noon, and compare it to what the system produced when it was healthy. A steady, sunny-day output near the expected number and visible export when you are using little at home is the sign of a system doing its job. Persistent low output, a fault light, or zero export is the sign to dig deeper. You can read more about reading your own output on our solar generation page.
Checking safely —
what to do and what never to touch.
Reading your app and comparing output is completely safe. Anything involving wiring, the roof, or opening equipment is not — that is licensed-electrician territory, always.
Safe to do yourself: read your inverter screen or monitoring app, note any error code, compare today's generation to a normal sunny day, and check your latest bill for the supply charge and feed-in rate. None of that goes near live electricity.
Only if the manual clearly describes it, and only if it is safe and simple: some inverters can be restarted by switching them off and on at their designated isolator switch, exactly as the manufacturer's manual sets out. If your manual describes that basic reset and you can reach the isolator easily and safely, you can try it. If anything about it is unclear, skip it and call a professional.
Never do this yourself. Do not open the inverter or battery, do not touch or disconnect any DC wiring or cabling, and do not climb onto the roof to inspect panels. Solar systems carry high-voltage DC that remains dangerous even when the grid is off. All electrical work must be done by a licensed electrician. For anything beyond reading your app or a basic manual-described reset — a persistent fault light, no generation, damaged wiring, or anything you are unsure about — call your installer or a CEC-accredited service to inspect it. It is not worth the risk, and a proper diagnosis is quick for a qualified technician.
So — what should you actually do?
Here is the advice we would give a friend: rule out a fault with a two-minute app check, then attack the bill with behaviour before you spend a cent on hardware.
First, do the safe checks above on a sunny day. If your system is generating near its expected output with no fault light, it is almost certainly working — and the bill is explained by the supply charge, a low feed-in tariff, or usage timing. If you see low output, a fault light, or zero export, call your installer or a CEC-accredited service. Second, before buying anything, shift your big loads into daylight and squeeze every kilowatt-hour of self-consumption you can — that is free and it is the biggest lever most homes have. Only after that, if you still have genuine evening and overnight usage, is it worth honestly checking whether a battery pays back within its warranty life on your numbers — not because someone wants to sell you one. Most people can cut their bill meaningfully without spending anything, and that is exactly the advice we would rather give you.
Bill went up after solar?
Your questions, answered.
In most cases it is not a faulty system — it is three things sellers rarely spell out. First, you still pay a fixed daily supply charge just to stay connected to the grid, every single day, even if your panels cover all your usage. Second, feed-in tariffs (the credit you get for exporting surplus solar) have fallen sharply, so exporting earns far less than it used to — the value is now in using your own solar, not selling it. Third, timing and behaviour: if you run big loads like heating, cooling, the dryer or the dishwasher at night on grid power, your panels never offset them. Add a general rise in electricity prices and a hot or cold quarter, and a bill can rise even with solar working perfectly. The fix is usually behaviour and self-consumption, not buying more panels. Occasionally the system genuinely is underperforming — this page shows you how to check that safely.
The daily supply charge (sometimes called the service-to-property or fixed charge) is a set amount your retailer bills every day just to keep you connected to the grid, regardless of how much power you use. It is charged even on days your solar covers all your usage, and it does not disappear when you install solar. Because it is fixed, it can make up a large slice of a low-usage bill, so a household that has cut its usage right down with solar can be surprised to see the supply charge now dominates the bill. The only ways to remove it entirely are to go fully off-grid (rarely worth it for most homes) or to disconnect from the grid, which most households do not want to do for reliability reasons. It is a normal, unavoidable part of a grid-connected bill, not a sign anything is wrong with your solar.
Feed-in tariffs — the per-kilowatt-hour credit you earn for exporting surplus solar to the grid — have fallen sharply across Australia as more rooftop solar has come online. So much cheap solar floods the grid in the middle of the day that the wholesale value of that midday energy has dropped, and retailers have cut their feed-in rates to match. Many households who signed up years ago on a generous rate now find their new or renewed plan pays a fraction of what it once did. This is why the strategy has flipped: the real value of solar is no longer selling your surplus, it is self-consuming it — using your own solar to run appliances during the day so you buy less expensive grid power, and in some states considering a battery to shift that surplus into the evening. It is a market shift, not a fault in your system.
The single biggest lever is self-consumption — using more of your solar while the sun is up instead of exporting it for a low feed-in tariff. Run the big loads in daylight: put the dishwasher, washing machine and dryer on a daytime timer, pre-heat or pre-cool the house in the afternoon, and charge an EV or heat your hot water during the day rather than overnight on grid power. Every kilowatt-hour you use from your own panels is one you do not buy at the full grid rate, which is worth far more than the small feed-in credit you would have earned exporting it. Beyond behaviour, check you are on a plan that suits a solar home, and if you have real evening and overnight usage, look honestly at whether a battery pays back within its warranty life on your numbers — not just because a salesperson says so. A free Mission Green assessment can run your actual usage and tell you which of these moves is worth it for your home.
Start by checking your inverter or monitoring app on a clear, sunny day. A healthy system should be generating close to its expected output around the middle of the day, and you should see energy being exported when you are using little at home. Warning signs of a genuine fault include: generation that is far below what you would expect on a bright day, a red or amber fault light or an error code on the inverter, or zero export showing on your app or meter when the sun is out and you are not using much power. If you see any of these, do not open the equipment or touch any wiring yourself — note the reading or error code, and if the manual describes a simple restart via the inverter's isolator switch you can try that only if it is safe and straightforward. For anything beyond a basic reset, or if the fault light stays on, call your installer or a CEC-accredited service to inspect it. Often, though, the system is fine and the bill is explained by the supply charge, a low feed-in tariff, or usage timing.
Not automatically — a battery is sometimes the right answer and sometimes an expensive one that will not pay for itself, so the honest advice is to check your numbers first. A battery helps most when you have real evening and overnight usage, a high peak import rate, a low feed-in tariff (so exporting earns little), and daytime solar surplus you are currently giving away cheaply. It helps far less if you are out all day and use little at home after dark, or still have a generous feed-in tariff. It also does nothing to remove the fixed daily supply charge. Before spending on a battery, make sure you are already self-consuming as much solar as you can through behaviour, since that is free. If the numbers genuinely stack up, a battery can be worth it — but a free assessment is the honest way to tell, and we would rather say wait or buy smaller than sell you one that does not pay.