To Disconnect or Not to Disconnect

As grid connection fees rise in Australia, some solar-and-battery homeowners are weighing whether to cut ties with the power grid entirely. One example: an electronics engineer named Anthony fully disconnected his house about a year ago. His setup includes roughly 14 kilowatts of rooftop solar, a large inverter, and two used electric-car batteries pulled from Tesla Model 3s, giving him enough stored power to run his home and charge his own electric car. Before disconnecting, he tested the idea by shutting off his grid connection for two months while monitoring his system, then called his retailers and had the metering equipment removed. So far, he has had no problems, and rising daily connection charges have made him feel it was the right call.

Part of what made this affordable was buying batteries salvaged from wrecked electric vehicles for a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars, far less than a new home battery would cost. He also used solar and batteries to cut daily grid fees across a small block of rental flats, splitting the savings with tenants through slightly higher rent.

None of this is a universal fix. Disconnecting means giving up the backup and convenience of grid power, and it raises open questions about how utilities and regulators might respond as more households do the same, including possible new fees for homes that stay connected. For now, this remains one homeowner's experience in Australia, not a documented option or program available elsewhere.