Solar loans and financing for Melbourne homes

Ways to pay for solar

A solar loan spreads the cost of the system over a few years, so the power you stop buying helps pay it off. These are the main ways Melbourne households pay, and where each is covered on this page:

• Cash. The cheapest way if you have the savings: no interest and no fees, and you keep the whole saving from day one.
• Green loan. A solar panel or battery loan from a bank or green lender, often with a lower rate or lower fees. Lenders compared.
• Payment plan or buy now pay later. Often no interest, but not always no cost. What they really cost.
• Home loan top-up. A green top-up or second loan on your mortgage. Top-up or personal loan.
• Solar Victoria interest-free loan. Up to $1,400 alongside the Solar Victoria panel rebate, for eligible households. In short.
• Business finance. A business pays with cash or business or equipment finance: financing commercial solar.

Finance with your quote

Green loans compared: amount, term and rate type

Green loans for solar are personal loans, or top-ups on a home loan, that lenders offer at a reduced rate or with lower fees for approved energy upgrades. The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) runs a $1 billion Household Energy Upgrades Fund that funds discounted green finance through partner lenders, for upgrades including solar and batteries. This is what each lender’s own page says, in no particular order:

What each lender asks of the system, the seller and you

• CommBank: Solar of 6kW or more, batteries of 5 kWh or more; the vendor or installer must be NETCC approved and SAA accredited.
• ING: An existing ING home loan of $150,000 or more at 80% of the property value or less; an installer from its Home Energy Helper platform or an eligible installer of your own.
• Westpac: A Westpac home or investment loan of $150,000 or more; energy upgrades quoted through Origin’s approved installer network.
• Bank Australia: A New Energy Tech Approved Seller and an SAA-accredited installer; a proposal, quote or tax invoice.
• Plenti: Apply online. Its CEFC-discounted rates (3 to 15 years, solar with a battery, not solar alone) go only through Plenti’s accredited installers.
• Great Southern Bank Unsecured Green Personal Loan: $5,000 to $100,000; solar of 3 kW or more and batteries bought from a New Energy Tech approved seller; you show a tax invoice (checked 25 October 2026).

Several of these loans only pay for a system sold by a New Energy Tech Approved Seller and installed by an SAA-accredited installer. Ask any installer, us included, for both before you apply.

Looking for the CBA green loan? CommBank now lists its Home energy loan (the Home Energy Upgrade Loan) for solar and batteries, in the first row above. Compare every loan on the comparison rate, which includes most fees, not just the interest rate: ASIC’s Moneysmart guide to personal loans explains how.

Financing a home battery

Solar battery loans are the same green loans: all five lenders in the table list home batteries, with their own conditions (battery terms checked 5 November 2026):

• CommBank: Battery packs of 5 kWh or more, including an inverter if needed.
• ING: A battery is on its list of approved upgrades (no size stated).
• Westpac: Batteries are on its list of upgrades, with quotes from Origin’s network of installers (no size stated).
• Bank Australia: A home battery from a New Energy Tech Approved Seller, fitted by an installer with SAA battery accreditation (no size stated).
• Plenti: Solar and battery loans; solar installed with a battery qualifies for its CEFC-backed discount, solar on its own doesn’t.

The federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program discount comes off the price first: the installer claims the battery’s STCs and takes them off your quote, so you borrow less (how the battery rebate works). A battery on a payment plan or buy now pay later falls under the same NETCC and ASIC rules as solar (what plans really cost). Looking for a solar battery loan in Victoria from the state? Solar Victoria’s interest-free battery loan is closed to new applicants. Is there a Solar Victoria battery rebate or loan?

Solar payment plans and buy now pay later: what they cost

A solar payment plan lets you pay for a system in instalments, often with no interest. No interest is not the same as no cost. ASIC’s Moneysmart warns that buy now pay later services that charge no interest may still charge late, account, processing or establishment fees, and that with interest-free deals interest can apply to whatever you still owe when the interest-free period ends.

Where the cost of a no-interest plan goes

• Into the price. When the seller pays the finance company, that cost can be built into your price. The New Energy Tech Consumer Code (NETCC) asks its Approved Sellers to be clear about any extra cost of finance recovered in the overall price, such as a financed price higher than the price for paying straight away. Ask for the cash price.
• Into fees. A monthly account fee, an establishment fee and late payment fees add up over a plan that runs for years.

The cost of any plan is easy to work out: add up every repayment and fee, then take away the cash price. Do the same for a green loan and compare the two totals.

What an Approved Seller must tell you

Under the NETCC, a payment plan from an Approved Seller has to come from a credit provider licensed under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act, or one whose contract the Code’s administrator has approved, and it can’t run longer than the expected life of the system. The seller must also make sure you are given:

• the name of the credit provider you would be contracted with
• that the plan is a voluntary finance option
• the total cost under the plan compared with buying the same system outright that day
• the fees and charges the National Credit Code requires lenders to disclose
• whether you own the system at the end, and any ongoing services or costs
• that questions and complaints about the plan go to the credit provider

Instalments paid to the seller over 6 months or less, with no interest, fees or higher price, fall outside those rules, as does finance from a government body. Since 10 June 2025, buy now pay later providers have also needed an Australian credit licence, and their contracts count as regulated credit (ASIC). The Code’s administrator says an updated version applies from 1 December 2026.

Home loan top-up or personal loan?

Of the green loans in the table above, ING and Westpac lend against your home, and CommBank, Bank Australia and Plenti lend as personal loans. A top-up often has a lower rate because your home secures it, but the term drives the total interest. This illustration keeps the rate the same and changes only the term:

Left on a mortgage for 25 years, $7,784 costs $8,424 in interest, against $1,420 over 5 years at the same rate. A personal loan’s rate may be higher than a home loan’s, but a shorter term can still cost less in total, so work out both totals with each lender’s own rate.

• Top-up or second home loan. You need a home loan with that lender, above its minimum size, and your home is the security. Westpac’s green loan runs for up to 10 years, and ING’s is fixed for 5 years before it joins your home loan. An ordinary top-up runs as long as your mortgage, which is where the 25-year column comes from.
• Personal loan. No home loan needed. A fixed rate keeps the repayment the same; check early repayment fees, which some loans charge and others don’t.
• Either way. Extra repayments cut the interest. Paying a top-up off over the time a personal loan would take keeps its interest close to the shorter term’s.

The Solar Victoria loan, in short

If you own and live in your home and meet Solar Victoria’s other tests (household income, property value and no recent solar), its Solar Homes Program pairs the solar panel rebate with an interest-free loan of up to $1,400, repaid over 4 years ($29.17 a month on the full amount, about $6.73 a week). You choose it when you apply for the rebate, before installation. The loan matches your rebate, so it covers only part of the price: the rest is cash or another loan. Solar Victoria’s battery loan is closed to new applicants. The current arrangements run until 30 June 2027.

The Solar Homes rebate and loan in full

Repayments vs savings

A loan makes sense when the weekly repayment is close to, or below, the weekly value of the power your system saves. Compare two numbers:

1. Your weekly repayment. It comes from the lender’s quote, or work it out with Moneysmart’s personal loan calculator using the loan amount, rate and term.
2. Your weekly saving. Each kWh of solar you use instead of buying saves your usage rate, and each kWh you export earns your retailer’s feed-in tariff. Victoria has had no minimum feed-in tariff since 1 July 2025, so check your own retailer’s rate.

If the repayment on your quote is lower than the value of the solar you use each week, the system pays its way while you repay it. Your quote works out the saving from your own power bill.

Is solar worth it in Melbourne?

What solar costs in Melbourne

What a battery costs

How to apply

1. Get a fixed quote. We inspect your home and quote a fixed price with the federal rebates taken off, so you know how much to borrow. See our solar and battery packages.
2. Check Solar Victoria first. If you may qualify for the rebate and interest-free loan, apply before installation and choose the loan when you apply.
3. Compare solar loan lenders. Compare the comparison rate, fees and total repayments, and check that the lender accepts your seller and installer.
4. Send the lender your quote. Lenders ask for a quote or tax invoice to confirm the loan is for an eligible upgrade.
5. Book the install once your finance is approved.

This page is general information, not financial advice. It does not take your objectives, finances or needs into account. Read the lender’s terms and comparison rate before you apply, and consider independent advice.

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Solar financing: your questions