Our charges for connections

The major cost you have in getting connected are the electrical professionals you engage to build your connection, see 'Getting the work done'. But you will also have to pay some fees to Ausgrid to get connected, and there is an ongoing charge for being connected to the network. 

Fees and charges for connection work

Our connection policy follows the requirements set out in Chapters 5A and 6 of the National Electricity Rules and the Australian Energy Regulator’s (AER) National Electricity Connection Charge Guideline available at AER’s website. 

Ausgrid may need to do work to ensure your connection is safe, reliable and secure. We’ll charge you a fee for these services, which will be set out in your connection contract offer correspondence or design contract.

You may be charged:

• site inspection fees – if we need to inspect or re-inspect your premises
• for administering and assessing your connection application
• reasonable expenses for us to assess and prepare a negotiated connection offer
• for the services involved to get a deed of agreement on property rights
• for services we do to support the ASP’s doing contestable services work
• a financial guarantee or guarantee of revenue, if we have funded a change to our network to accommodate the connection
• for a Notice of Arrangements
• for planning and analysis work we do for your connection
• for the cost of any additional work we do to meet a higher standard of supply than the least cost, technically acceptable standard offered by us if you requested the higher standard of supply
• to reimburse another customer under a ‘pioneer scheme’ (if your connection will use network infrastructure that another customer funded within the last seven years you’ll be charged to reimburse that customer a proportion of their expenses).

For more information see Model Standing Offers.

Once connected to the Ausgrid network you pay your electricity retailer for ongoing access to the network and the electricity you use.

The bill from your electricity retailer includes an amount to cover ‘network tariffs’. A network tariff is an amount Ausgrid charges an electricity retailer to pay for the cost of operating and maintaining our distribution network so it is safe and reliable. It’s up to your electricity retailer to decide how to incorporate network tariffs into your electricity bill.

We update network tariffs each year and the regulator, the AER, must approve them.

Related links

Further information