Springfield's homes and power
Built to a plan
Greater Springfield was Australia's largest master-planned community when it was built, and it's planned to reach 85,000 people. Springfield State School opened in 1998, and Springfield Lakes was named in 2000 and built out by Lendlease in neighbourhood stages.
Family houses
At the 2021 Census, 96.0% of homes in Springfield Lakes were separate houses, with an average of 3.7 bedrooms. Springfield itself was 86.8% houses.
Lots of first mortgages and renters
Half of Springfield's homes were owned with a mortgage. In Springfield Lakes, 43.1% were rented and only 10.3% were owned outright.
The 2020 hailstorm
Hail up to 8 cm fell at Springfield on 31 October 2020, a tree came down on a Springfield Lakes home with three people inside, and hardship assistance was activated for both suburbs.
Adding solar or a battery on Energex's network
Energex supplies Springfield, and its basic connection for home solar and batteries limits total inverter capacity to 10 kVA per phase and export to 5 kW per phase. A system of 10 kVA or more must also have a generation signalling device, which lets Energex switch it off briefly in an energy emergency.
Before you size a big system, find out whether your home is on single or three phase power. Adding a phase is lodged by your electrician as an Electrical Work Request through Energex, and that request also tells your retailer about the change.
EV chargers in a newer house
A wall charger needs its own circuit from the switchboard, so the electrician will check there's room on the board and that your supply can carry it alongside the air conditioning. In a newer Springfield home that's usually simpler than in an older suburb. If solar's going in too, ask for one plan that covers both. Switchboards for solar and EV chargers explains what changes.
If it were our Springfield house
We'd write down everything we want in the next five years, the charger, the battery, another split system, and hand the whole list to the electrician on the first visit. It's the simplest way to avoid opening the same wall twice. After a hailstorm, have the solar panels and outdoor units looked at before assuming they're fine.
Want a specialist to sort it?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match the licence-checked local electrician who does this kind of work, and they call you. No ring-around, and your number goes to them alone.