On this page:

Considered projects

Connection enquiries to new greenfield transmission projects, such as Western Renewables Link and Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector West, cannot be formally lodged and progressed until these projects reach considered project status.

To be classed as a considered project, as defined in the National Electricity Rules (NER), the following criteria must be met:

  • necessary land and easements must be acquired
  • all necessary planning and development approvals must be obtained
  • the project must have passed the regulatory investment test for transmission, or an intention to proceed has been published in the Transmission Annual Planning Report, and
  • construction must have commenced, or a firm date is set to commence.

Please refer to our transmission projects page for information on current project status.

The enquiry stage

The enquiry stage is the first formal stage of the connection process under Clause 5.3 (transmission network connections) of the NER.

To make an enquiry, you need to submit a Connection enquiry form and any supporting information.

Once an enquiry has been submitted, a fee is charged to you for the enquiry stage and for the provision of the enquiry response.

Community engagement and social value

VicGrid is introducing new measures in the connections process to support developers to align engagement with the new Community Engagement and Social Value Guidelines.

The guidelines set clear expectations about how projects should be engaging with and creating social value and economic benefits for landholders, neighbours, communities and Traditional Owners.

Developing meaningful relationships with Traditional Owners, communities, landholders and neighbours to shape the development and delivery of the project will be a core principle for access to the grid. The Applicant will be required to demonstrate a collaborative approach that focuses on outcomes and directly responds and contributes to the identified needs and priorities of these groups.

For more information about expectations, read the Community Engagement and Social Value Guidelines.

Connection enquiry fee

Connection enquiry fee increase

VicGrid’s pricing aims to cover costs without making a profit and to ensure that our charges fairly represent the costs and efforts to deliver each service. To achieve this, an annual review is conducted to accurately build fees and rates using activity-based cost data and revenue forecasts.

To ensure that our charges fairly represent the cost to deliver, please note that from 1 July 2026, the connection enquiry response fee for generators will increase from $18,500 to $20,500.

As connection enquiries for large inverter-based loads (IBLs) (over 100MW) and Hybrid (Large IBL and generation) generally involve more complex technical and network assessments, the connection enquiry response fee these enquiries will increase from $18,500 to $35,000.

The connection enquiry fee cost is as follows:

  • generation connection enquiries:  $20,500
  • large Inverter Base Load (IBLs) (over 100MW) (e.g. data centres) connection enquiries: $35,000
  • hybrid (large IBL and generation) connection enquiries: $35,000.

As connection enquires for IBLs involve a higher level of technical complexity, including detailed network planning, load forecasting, system impact assessments and coordination across multiple stakeholders, the fee of $35,000 reflects the additional time, expertise and resources required to undertake these assessments.

We will prepare a formal response that will typically include:

  • requirements in respect of technical studies and access standards
  • land use and type of transmission service
  • preliminary connection program and connection options
  • preliminary system strength impact assessment and system strength remediation
  • further information about the pre-application option and requirements to complete an application to connect.

After the connection enquiry response has been provided to you, we will offer a meeting with the VicGrid Connections team to discuss the enquiry response details.

Further to this, you may also ask VicGrid to provide transmission network data to assist you in undertaking connection studies. For more information, visit our Data provision page.

We inform the incumbent Declared Transmission System Operators (DTSO) of potential connections following enquiries to their assets, omitting specific details until the connection applicant is ready to proceed with a connection.

The NER enable any person to fund VicGrid to conduct a Scale Efficient Network Extension study. A SENE study will identify the likelihood of multiple network users accessing transmission infrastructure, and the cost of accommodating those network users.

Applicants who are interested in funding a SENE study should contact VicGrid at this stage.

Next stage

Page last updated: 20/07/26