What to do in the first 90 days with a new solar system in Perth

Getting solar installed is the easy part. Confirming the system is performing correctly, navigating the Western Power approval process, and verifying your first Synergy bills are what separate Perth households that get full value from their system from those who discover problems months later.

Day 1–7: immediately after installation

Set up monitoring: Your installer should have configured the monitoring app on installation day. Open the app and confirm it's showing live generation data. On a sunny day, a 6.6kW system should be showing 3–6kW between 10am and 2pm.

What to confirm on the monitoring app:

• Daily generation figure (should be visible by end of installation day)
• No fault codes (green system indicator)
• Generation starts rising at approximately 7am in summer, 8am in winter, and peaks at noon–1pm
• String data (if your inverter shows per-string data): both strings show output

Save these documents in a dedicated folder:

• Certificate of Compliance (electrical) — legally required to keep
• Invoice and itemised equipment list (panels, inverter, battery if included)
• Western Power NCN acknowledgement
• Inverter warranty card/registration link
• Monitoring app login credentials

Register product warranties if required: Some inverter brands require owner registration within 30 days to activate warranty (Fronius, SMA). Check your inverter documentation and register online.

Day 7–14: confirm Western Power submission

Your installer submits the Notice of Completion (NOC) to Western Power after installation, which triggers the meter upgrade process. Confirm this has happened.

How to confirm: Contact your installer by email and ask: "Has the NOC been submitted to Western Power? What reference number was provided?" A reputable installer will have this information.

What happens next: Western Power approves the connection and schedules a meter upgrade (replacing your accumulation meter with a smart meter). This typically takes 4–12 weeks from NOC submission.

In the meantime: Your system runs in export-limited mode (zero export or limited export depending on the inverter setting). You're still self-consuming solar — you're just not getting DEBS export credits yet.

Day 14–30: first monitoring review

After two weeks of operation, check your monitoring app for trends:

Compare actual vs expected generation:

• Summer (Dec–Feb): a 6.6kW system should produce 28–36kWh per clear day
• Winter (Jun–Aug): the same system should produce 18–24kWh per clear day
• Autumn/Spring: 22–30kWh on clear days

Check production on different day types:

• Note output on a clear sunny day
• Note output on a cloudy day (should still generate 10–15% of a sunny day figure)
• Check if early morning and late afternoon generation is smooth (sudden drops may indicate shade problems)

Green flags:

• Daily generation peaks smoothly at midday and declines evenly in the afternoon
• Production on clear days matches installer's projected daily average for the season

Amber flags:

• Output drops suddenly at a specific time of day (possible shade obstruction — tree, new structure)
• Output is consistently 10–15% below the installer's projected figures
• Monitoring app shows intermittent data gaps (connection issue — may be WiFi, not the solar system)

Day 30–60: smart meter installation

Western Power will notify you (usually by letter or SMS) about the smart meter installation date. A Western Power technician visits and replaces the meter — this takes approximately 30–60 minutes and requires your property to be accessible.

What to do when you receive the meter installation notice:

• Confirm the property will be accessible on the installation date
• Ask your installer to confirm the inverter is ready for export (export limit set correctly, not in zero-export mode after meter installation)

After smart meter installation: Contact Synergy and confirm:

1. The smart meter installation has been registered on your account
2. DEBS has been activated on your account
3. Your import/export billing is correctly configured

You should be able to see both import and export data in Synergy's My Account portal within 3–7 days of meter installation.

Day 60–90: verify your first solar bill

Your first Synergy bill after DEBS activation is the most important one to check carefully.

What should appear on the bill:

• Import charges (grid electricity you bought)
• DEBS export credits (for export during 3pm–9pm peak at 10c/kWh, and off-peak 9pm–3pm at 2c/kWh)
• Supply charge (daily connection fee — unchanged by solar)
• Any Household Electricity Credit or concession (if applicable)

What to check:

1. Export total (kWh): Compare to your monitoring app's export figure for the same period. They should be close (within 5–10%) — the monitoring app measures inverter output; the Synergy meter measures at the connection point. Small differences are normal.
2. DEBS rate split: Does the bill show both peak (3pm–9pm) and off-peak (9pm–3pm) export rates? This confirms your account is correctly set up for time-of-use DEBS pricing.
3. Import reduction: Compare your import charges to the same billing period in the prior year (before solar). If consumption patterns are similar, the reduction should be significant.
4. Bill timing: The first post-solar bill may cover a partial billing period — some days before DEBS activation and some after. This is normal for the first bill cycle.

Red flags on the first solar bill:

• DEBS credits not appearing at all despite having a smart meter — contact Synergy
• Export kWh is zero despite your monitoring showing export — contact Synergy
• All export credited at the same rate (no peak/off-peak split) — confirm you're on DEBS, not an older tariff
• Import charges are unchanged from pre-solar — possible the DEBS activation hasn't processed, or solar isn't offsetting import as expected

Day 90 review: is the system performing?

By 90 days, you have enough data to do a basic performance check.

Rough check (no calculations needed):

• Is your monthly Synergy bill substantially lower than before solar?
• Does your monitoring app show generation every sunny day?
• Are DEBS credits appearing on bills?

Formal performance ratio check: If you have 60–90 days of generation data:

• Take total generation (kWh) from monitoring app
• Divide by (system size in kW × days × peak sun hours for the season)
• Perth PSH: summer ~6.0, winter ~4.0, annual average ~5.0
• A PR above 0.78 is healthy; below 0.70 warrants investigation

If something looks wrong: Contact your installer with your monitoring app data. Most issues (shade, soiling, minor fault codes) are resolvable with an on-site visit. Your installer's workmanship warranty (typically 5 years) covers any installation-related faults.

Ongoing: what to check annually

Once the 90-day setup period is complete, the system should largely run itself. Annual checks:

• Clean panels if there's visible bird fouling or dust accumulation (once per year, before winter)
• Check monitoring app performance ratio trend (comparing year to year)
• Verify DEBS credits on annual bills match your monitoring export total
• Check inverter for any stored fault codes (visible in most monitoring apps)

Upload your first post-solar Synergy bill to BillWise to verify DEBS credits are correctly calculated and your self-consumption rate aligns with the installer's projected figures.