Aurora Energy solar export limits and connection approval explained

Are you on Aurora Energy’s network?

Aurora Energy is the lines company for Dunedin, Central Otago, Wānaka and Queenstown. It says its network serves more than 200,000 people. It splits its prices into three areas, Dunedin, Central Otago and Wānaka, and Queenstown, and some of its rules below differ between them.

Not all of Otago is on Aurora, so do not assume from the region alone. The reliable check is the 15-character ICP number on your power bill: ask your retailer which lines company it belongs to, or call Aurora on 0800 22 00 05.

Keep the three roles apart. Aurora approves the connection and sets the export limit. Your retailer arranges import/export metering and sets the price you are paid for exported power. Your installer designs the system and, on Aurora’s network, works with an approved network inspector who lodges the application.

Solar uptake across Aurora’s network is uneven. Electricity Authority EMI figures for 31 August 2026 show 4,568 homes with solar in its three network areas, up 23% from 3,700 a year earlier. Central Otago leads the country; Dunedin is well below the national figure of 4.2%.

Our regional solar uptake rankings compare all 38 areas and explain how the figures are counted.

The 10 kW limit

Aurora doubled its export limit for single-phase home connections from 5 kW to 10 kW on 1 August 2025, one of the first lines companies in the country to do so. It set three conditions: the voltage at the point of supply must stay within New Zealand’s regulatory limits, the inverter must control and regulate voltage automatically, and the installation must comply with the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010 and the AS/NZS 4777 standards.

Aurora’s solar and distributed energy page now treats systems of 10 kW or less as small-scale generation. Above 10 kW, an application moves to its medium-scale process, which gets a fuller assessment. Nationally, the Electricity Authority’s export limits Code change, in force since 11 May 2026, makes 10 kW the default for straightforward small home systems, though a lines company can set a lower limit where a standard network assessment justifies it. The figure that counts is the one in your approval.

An export limit is measured in kilowatts, which is power at one moment. It is not a daily allowance in kilowatt-hours. You only reach a 10 kW limit when the panels make more than 10 kW beyond what the house is using at that moment, which a typical home system rarely does. Our system sizing guide explains how panel size, inverter size and export fit together.

Batteries count. Aurora’s connection standard lists photovoltaic panels and batteries as notifiable equipment that needs a connection application, so adding a battery to an existing system is a change to tell Aurora about, not just a job for the installer.

Congestion and lower limits

Aurora checks every application for congestion before approving it, and its small-scale process says it may ask for changes to a system before approval. Its congestion management guide uses a traffic-light approach: exports below a lower threshold connect without engineering review, a middle band connects if volt-var control is switched on, and exports above the upper threshold need an engineering review and possibly a contribution to network upgrades. The guide says Aurora can also apply real-time export limits case by case.

Unlike Alpine Energy, which names 11 congested areas in South Canterbury, or MainPower, which publishes a list of connections capped below 10 kW, we could not find a list of congested streets or areas on Aurora’s solar pages when we checked. That is not a promise that every street can take 10 kW. The fast-growing parts of the network are the likeliest places for a lower limit, and Aurora’s pricing puts the cost of extra winter peak demand far higher in Central Otago, Wānaka and Queenstown than in Dunedin.

The practical step is the same as anywhere: do not accept a savings forecast that relies on exporting 10 kW until the application has been approved at that limit.

From application to switching on

Aurora’s process for systems of 10 kW or less has a step the Canterbury networks do not: the application is completed by an approved network inspector, not lodged directly by the installer. Aurora lists six approved inspection companies, two for Dunedin and five for Central Otago, Queenstown Lakes and Wānaka, with one company covering both. Your installer chooses and contacts one.

1. Quote and design. The installer agrees a system with you and contacts an approved network inspector.
2. Application. The inspector gathers the details and completes the application on your behalf.
3. Aurora’s review. Aurora confirms receipt within 5 working days. A compliant application can be fast-tracked and approved automatically. Otherwise it gets further assessment, which can take up to 30 working days. That applies when the export is above 10 kW, or when the inverter is not on Aurora’s approved inverter list and the installer has to supply a certificate of conformity instead.
4. Retailer and meter. You tell your retailer, agree a buy-back rate, and the retailer arranges an import/export meter, unless the inspector does it.
5. Inspection and switch-on. The installer issues a certificate of compliance and commissioning declaration, the inspector tests the system and issues a record of inspection, and the retailer and Aurora update the national registry. The system can be switched on once the electrical safety certificate is issued.

Aurora says it has updated these steps for the Electricity Authority’s network connection rules, with its new processes taking effect on 1 December 2026 and further parts of the rules from 1 June 2027. If your installation straddles those dates, ask the installer which process the application is on.

Metering matters for your lines charges too. Aurora’s pricing methodology says a home that may export needs two-way import/export metering to stay on the residential price, and the winter peak export credit below needs a smart meter that records exports in peak and off-peak periods.

What it costs to apply

Aurora’s solar pages do not list an application fee for small home systems, and its 2026–27 pricing methodology publishes charges only for large generators. The cost that does show up is the approved network inspector’s work, which the inspector charges for, and the retailer’s meter change.

So the useful question for an installer is not “what does Aurora charge?” but “what will the inspector charge, and is it in your price?” For comparison, application fees for a small home system on the Canterbury networks run from nothing on MainPower to about $160 including GST on Orion and EA Networks, and $160 on Network Waitaki in North Otago. Our solar panel cost guide covers what else should be in the price.

Inverter rules

Aurora keeps an approved inverter list. An inverter on it helps the application through the fast-track route; one that is not on it needs a certificate of conformity and goes to further assessment, which can add weeks. Ask for the exact inverter model on the quote so the installer can confirm it is on Aurora’s list before you sign.

The settings matter as much as the model. Aurora’s 10 kW limit depends on the inverter regulating voltage automatically, and its congestion guide relies on volt-var and volt-watt response. The Electricity Authority’s Code now makes the “Australia A” settings in AS/NZS 4777.2:2020 the national default for small systems. In plain terms, the inverter turns its output down or adjusts it when the street’s voltage rises too high. On a sunny day with little load nearby, that can trim a little export; it is what lets many homes on the same line export safely.

A grid-connected inverter switches off when the network goes down, so solar alone will not keep the lights on in an outage. Our battery storage guide explains what backup needs.

The winter peak export credit

From 1 April 2026, Aurora pays a credit on power that homes export during winter peaks. Its pricing methodology says the credit applies from May to September, between 7am and 12pm and between 5pm and 10pm, seven days a week, and is zero at all other times. The rates are in Aurora’s 2026–27 price schedule:

The consumption prices are Aurora’s distribution charges before pass-through costs, and are part of what your retailer pays Aurora, not your retail rate. They show the logic: the credit is half the gap between Aurora’s peak and off-peak price in each area (6 cents in Dunedin, 15 cents elsewhere), and that gap is wider where extra peak demand costs Aurora more to supply. It is the same idea as Orion’s winter peak export credit in Christchurch, but with longer windows that include weekends.

Aurora applies the credit to its charges to your retailer, not to you directly. Whether you see it depends on the retailer: as a separate line, inside a higher peak buy-back rate, or not at all. Ask your retailer whether it passes on Aurora’s peak export credit for your connection, and compare whole-bill costs in our buy-back rate guide rather than chasing the credit alone.

Panels make nothing in the evening window and only modest output on winter mornings, so a home battery is what earns most of this credit. Aurora says the credit only rewards export during the peak windows so that households use their own power first and export genuine surplus, rather than dumping a battery at the start of a peak. In Queenstown and Wānaka, Aurora is also trialling battery flexing with Octopus Energy, which pays Octopus customers with a home battery or vehicle-to-grid set-up extra credits when the battery is used at busy times. Our battery or no battery guide shows how to judge a battery on what it saves before counting credits like these.

Six things to get in writing

Use these alongside our guide to common solar quote mistakes when comparing installers.

• The connection: the ICP, confirmation that it is on Aurora Energy, which pricing area it is in, and whether the supply is single-phase or three-phase.
• The inspector: which approved network inspector will complete the application, what they charge, and whether that is in the quote.
• The export assumption: the limit the savings forecast uses, and that it matches the limit in Aurora’s approval.
• The equipment: panel capacity, and the exact inverter model, with confirmation that it is on Aurora’s approved inverter list and will be set to the required voltage response.
• The credit: whether the forecast counts Aurora’s winter peak export credit, and if so, which retailer plan passes it on.
• The paperwork: who tells the retailer, who books the meter change, and who sends the certificate of compliance and record of inspection.