What might change when you electrify your home?

What your meter does

Your electricity meter measures how much electricity your home draws from the grid. Your electricity retailer (the company that issues your electricity bill) gets meter reads from your energy distributor (the company that manages the poles and wires that get electricity to your home) to work out your electricity bill.

Most homes in Victoria have smart meters, which send readings automatically to your distributor for more accurate billing.

When they’re installed, meters are generally set to a default tariff (sometimes called a single tariff or flat rate tariff), which means you’ll be charged the same price for electricity at any time of the day.

If your energy plan supports different prices for different times of the day, your energy retailer will work with your distributor to change your meter’s setting to an appropriate tariff, like a time of use tariff.

You may also have a separate register on your meter or a separate meter for things like pool heating or underfloor heating. This usage may be charged on a controlled load tariff, which is a discounted electricity rate for large, high-energy appliances connected to a dedicated circuit.

When your meter could change

There are a few reasons your meter may need to be replaced or reconfigured:

1. You’re signing up to an EV electricity plan through your electricity retailer. They’ll work with your distributor to reconfigure your meter’s tariff so you can get the benefits of the plan.
2. Your meter fails or you have an older mechanical meter that’s reached end of life. If you report a problem to your electricity retailer, they’ll manage this process with your distributor. Sometimes the distributor will proactively arrange meter upgrades directly with you.
3. You’re installing a solar and battery system. The meter will need to be reconfigured to measure energy you export to the grid, so you can access solar feed-in tariffs where applicable. In some cases, you may need a smart meter upgrade when you install solar and/or batteries.

About your phase supply

Single phase power is the standard or default supply that’s in most Victorian apartments, units, older houses and homes that don’t have unusually high electricity needs. It typically runs your household essentials, like:

• lighting
• fridge
• TV
• washing machine
• dishwasher
• standard air conditioning and heating.

If you’re looking to change other gas appliances to electric, or add new electric products – like an EV charger, an induction cooktop and ducted electric heating and cooling – it’s often possible to add these without changing to 3 phase power.

As you transition to a fully electric home, where you run many electric appliances at the same time, you may want to consider 3-phase power. Keep in mind you may not need it – especially if you have a solar and battery system. Your electrician can advise.

Three-phase power is more common in homes that use many high-powered electrical products or many electric appliances at the same time. For example, if you have:

• multiple ducted reverse cycle heating and cooling systems
• pool equipment
• home workshops
• more than one EV charger
• an EV charger that supports a vehicle with a higher charge rate.

When your phase supply could change

There are a few reasons your phase supply may need to change:

1. You’re doing major renovations at home, which will substantially increase your electricity demand, especially if you run many, high-powered appliances at the same time.
2. You’re building a larger, fully electric luxury home.
3. You have a home workshop and are installing new welders, compressors or large machinery.
4. You own an EV that can accept a higher charging speed. Some EVs can accept more power from a home charger (up to 11 kWh), so they charge faster when connected to 3-phase power. Even though many EVs accept up to 7.4 kWh, you can still charge them on 3-phase power. The EV’s onboard charger sets the maximum charging speed – not the phase supply.

About your mains connection

The mains connection to your home determines how much electricity your home can draw from the network. Each home may be set up differently. In the list below, A stands for amperage. The higher the amperage, the more electricity the home can draw. For example:

• older homes may have 32A mains
• some homes have 40A
• modern, detached homes are often connected with a 63A, single-phase supply
• some estates may be limited to 50A
• units and townhouses may have additional, shared-site limitations.

When your mains connection could change

Upgrading a mains connection can be costly, so it's worth understanding your options before going ahead.

If you have an older home with a smaller-capacity mains, or you face other constraints – like estate or apartment limitations – and you’d like to go all-electric, get advice before you make any changes.

Common sense and careful planning often allow you to go all-electric without changing your mains. Avoid infrastructure changes by:

• using load-management technology – this is a monitor in your switchboard that can reduce or pause power to certain appliances (e.g. EV chargers, pool heating, batteries) when it detects the home’s demand for power is getting high.
• considering how you use energy. Do you need to run all your air conditioners at the same time as your washing machine and dishwasher, or can you change how and when you use energy at home?

Why not talk to an SEC-endorsed installer? They’ll assess your plans and see what they can do without upgrading your existing mains. They may recommend specific appliances, smart chargers, load management systems or staged upgrades to avoid a mains upgrade.

Keep in mind, there may be cases where you need a mains upgrade. Your installer will advise.