Electrician in Brighton East: faults, switchboards and the move off gas
Need an electrician in Brighton East? Helcro Electrical’s licensed electricians work across Brighton East, also known as East Brighton (postcode 3187, not Brighton 3186), from fault finding, power points and lighting to switchboards, heat pump hot water, solar, batteries and EV chargers. Moving off gas? Start with hot water, before the 1 March 2027 gas replacement rule. Brighton East is about 5 km north-west of our Cheltenham workshop, mostly in the City of Bayside, with a small pocket in the City of Glen Eira.
Call 1300 201 358 → Get a Quote →
Send the form and we will call you back within 2 business hours; small jobs can often be priced on the phone at no charge. We are open Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm and Saturday 8am to 1pm. Our own electricians do the work, usually Fedya or Rhys; nothing is subcontracted.
Registered Electrical Contractor REC 35448, registered with Energy Safe Victoria (check it on the ESV register). VEU Accredited Provider A003039. NETCC Approved Seller and an authorised retailer on Solar Victoria’s list. Clean Energy Council member (a company membership). ARC Refrigerant Trading Authorisation AU50700. SiGENERGY and Tesla Powerwall Certified Installer, Sonnen Certified Partner.
“Prompt and efficient service. Good value and will definitely use again.”
Robert, Brighton East (Oneflare, March 2023)
5.0★ Google (70 reviews)
What our Brighton East electricians charge
These are our own prices, all including GST. Anything bigger is quoted in writing after the site assessment.
| Job | Price |
|---|---|
| Site assessment for a quote | $50 |
| Service call (first 30 minutes, one electrician) | $165 |
| Split system, standard back-to-back install | from $1,618 (Haier 2.5 kW) |
| Home switchboard upgrade | typically $1,250 to $2,500 |
| Zappi EV charger, supplied and installed | $2,200 to $2,500 single-phase, $2,500 to $3,000 three-phase |
| Home solar system, installed, STC discount taken off | about $6,000 (6.6 kW), about $12,000 (10 kW) |
| SigenStor 8 kWh battery, federal discount taken off | from $8,400 single-phase, from $10,900 three-phase (October 2026) |
Prices, rules and rebates on this page checked 18 October 2026.
Electrical repairs and new circuits
A tripping circuit, a dead power point, more outlets, LED downlights, garden lighting, ceiling fans, smoke alarms, an oven or induction cooktop to connect: these are the everyday jobs. We also upgrade safety switches, run safety inspections and rewire. The full list is on our residential electrical services page.
For CCTV, alarms and intercoms we do the electrical side only; see electrical work for security systems. Shops and offices: commercial electrical services.
Older Brighton East houses, switchboards and safety switches
The 2021 Census counted 16,757 people and 6,009 occupied private dwellings in Brighton East: 4,078 separate houses (67.9%, against 73.4% across Victoria), 1,432 semi-detached, row or terrace houses and townhouses (23.8%, against 13.9%), and 477 flats or apartments (7.9%).
Bayside City Council's 2006 neighbourhood character brochures for three of the precincts covering Brighton East describe:
- The north-west corner (precinct B5): "a concentration of Edwardian, Federation and California Bungalow era dwellings".
- The north (precinct D1): housing "from the Inter-War and Post-War eras", with "red and clinker brick and roughcast or rendered facades".
- The east side, down to Dendy Park and Brighton Golf Course (precinct D2): "predominantly Post-War dwellings, often double or triple fronted and cream brick".
Those eras all predate the safety switch rules, though later infill may not. RCDs became compulsory on power circuits in new homes in the early 1990s and on lighting circuits from 2001, and older wiring only had to follow where significant electrical work was done, so a Brighton East house never upgraded may still have none (safety switch rules).
Buying one? Energy Safe Victoria says that when you buy a home built before the 1980s, the wiring should be checked by a licensed electrical inspector or registered electrical contractor before you move in. Our guide to wiring an old house has more.
In these houses the board is the gate for what follows: a heat pump water heater, a battery and an EV charger each add a circuit, and an older board may have no spare room and no RCDs. A switchboard upgrade typically costs $1,250 to $2,500 including GST. We open the board at the $50 site assessment and tell you what it needs before quoting the rest.
Heat pump hot water and the 2027 gas rule
The Clean Energy Regulator has recorded 393 air-source heat pump water heaters in postcode 3187 since 2001, data to 31 August 2026: 96 in 2024, 89 in 2025 and 70 from January to August 2026, a count that will rise.
When a mains gas water heater in an existing Brighton East home is replaced from 1 March 2027, the new one must generally be electric, and gas pool heaters are caught too. Nothing has to come out early, repairs are allowed, LPG is outside the rule, and owner-occupiers keep gas heating and cooking. See Victoria's gas rules and exemptions.
Two dates matter if your gas unit is ageing:
- 1 January 2027: the federal certificates built into a heat pump's price fall by about a fifth, because the deeming period drops from five years to four.
- 1 March 2027: the gas replacement rule starts.
The Victorian Government puts the saving from switching gas hot water to electric at around $400 a year. At the 2021 Census, 40.6% of Brighton East homes were owned outright (32.2% across Victoria) and 34.2% with a mortgage, so most homes are owner-occupied. Swapping gas for a heat pump earns a VEU discount of up to $560, and eligible owner-occupiers can add Solar Victoria's hot water rebate of up to $1,000, or $1,400 for a model on its locally made list.
We install iStore, Sanden Eco Plus and Haier heat pumps and apply the VEU discount on our heat pump hot water installations. The iStore 270L is listed in our shop at $2,950 before rebates, and a straight swap is about $3,900 installed, including GST. Our heat pump installs carry a 5-year workmanship warranty on top of the manufacturer's; more on heat pump hot water systems.
A heat pump on general supply, not a controlled-load tariff, can heat during the Midday Power Saver window, when power used from 11am to 2pm is free, up to 24 kWh a day, once you sign up with your retailer (smart meter needed), though other rates on that offer can be higher.
One quote can cover the whole move off gas, induction cooktop included.
Solar installers in Brighton East: the heritage check
The Clean Energy Regulator has recorded 1,605 small-scale solar systems in postcode 3187 from 2001 to 31 August 2026, about 10.2 MW in total. We install home systems from 5 kW to 30 kW.
Bayside's planning scheme lists 35 Brighton East places in its Heritage Overlay, including the Berkeley Grove, Cheeseman Avenue and Palmer Avenue precincts, and solar controls apply to 34 of them. For those places, panels need a planning permit if they can be seen from a street (other than a lane) or a public park. We check the overlay before we quote.
United Energy runs the network here: a single-phase home can export up to 5 kW, and United Energy sets the limit for each address at pre-approval. If that comes back at 0 kW, its flexible exports (launched 1 July 2026) let a compatible inverter export most of the time instead.
Every solar and battery job carries our 10-year workmanship warranty, on top of the manufacturers' warranties. More on solar panel installation.
Home batteries on existing solar
Batteries are outpacing new solar in 3187: the Clean Energy Regulator recorded at least 222 home batteries from July 2025 to August 2026, against 124 new solar systems. Many of those batteries joined solar already on the roof, so we check the set-up first: the inverter the battery connects to must be able to join a virtual power plant (a separate existing solar inverter need not), and the battery must be on the approved list.
The federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program aims at around a 30% discount on the upfront cost. The date your Certificate of Electrical Safety is issued fixes your rate: 6.8 certificates per usable kWh until 31 December 2026, then 5.7 from 1 January 2027. Capacity from 14 to 28 kWh earns 60% of that rate, and from 28 to 50 kWh 15%. Our battery rebate guide has the current figures.
There is no Victorian battery rebate, and Solar Victoria no longer takes battery loan applications. We install SigenStor, Tesla Powerwall and Sonnen; more on home battery installation.
EV chargers for two-car households
At the 2021 Census, 2,572 Brighton East dwellings (42.8%, against 36.9% across Victoria) had two registered motor vehicles garaged or parked at or near the home on Census night. A home charger is a large new load, so we check the switchboard and whether your supply is single-phase or three-phase first. Charging speeds and brands are on our EV charger installation page.
Split systems and ducted air conditioning
A split system installed on a standard back-to-back job starts at $1,618 (Haier 2.5 kW, including GST), with no rebate involved. Since 30 September 2026, every ducted system, and any multi-split of 10 kW or more, carries a $3,000 minimum VEU co-payment. See how the VEU discount works and the air conditioning brands we install. Team members doing air conditioning work are registered with the Building and Plumbing Commission (formerly the VBA).
Townhouses, rebuilds and rentals
On a block split into townhouses, check which meter and switchboard serve your home before adding a circuit; work on common property needs the owners corporation's approval first.
Rebuilding? A new home whose building permit is issued from 1 January 2027 cannot connect to mains gas, unless the building surveyor certifies in writing that substantial design progress was made before that date. LPG is outside the rule.
At the 2021 Census, 1,172 Brighton East homes (19.5%) were rented, against 28.5% across Victoria. From 13 October 2026 the two-yearly gas and electrical safety check covers every Victorian rental, whatever the agreement's start date (the gas part only where there is gas). We do the electrical half and leave you the written report; a licensed or registered gasfitter does the gas check.
Where we work around Brighton East
Brighton East borders Brighton, Bentleigh, Hampton, Caulfield South, Hampton East, Gardenvale, McKinnon and Ormond. We cover the whole suburb, from Dendy Park in the south to Landcox Park in the north, Glen Eira pocket included. We also have pages for Bentleigh East, Moorabbin and Sandringham; see all the suburbs we cover.
What to expect when you book
- Ring 1300 201 358 or use the form. Expect our call within 2 business hours.
- Small jobs can often be priced on the phone. Describe it, or email a photo to team@helcro.com.au, at no charge.
- Bigger work starts with a $50 site assessment. We look at the board, the roof or the route, then send a written quote.
- Certificates and warranty. You receive a Certificate of Electrical Safety wherever the work requires one, plus the written warranty.
Brighton East electrician questions
Do you take emergency calls?
We are open Monday to Friday 8:00am–6:00pm and Saturday 8:00am–1:00pm. We do not advertise round-the-clock callouts. For an urgent electrical fault, call 1300 201 358 and we will confirm availability directly.
Who do I call when the whole street loses power?
United Energy, the network for Brighton East, on 13 20 99. A street outage or a fallen line is theirs, not ours.
Is my house in Brighton or Brighton East?
Check your postcode: Brighton East is 3187, while Brighton and Brighton North are 3186.
Get a quote from a Brighton East electrician
From one power point to a full move off gas, tell us what you need and we will call you back within 2 business hours.
45/148 Chesterville Road, Cheltenham VIC 3192.