Canterbury grew up around its railway station, which opened in 1882. The heritage citation for the Maling Road precinct describes a street pattern that runs out from the station, and houses and shops that were largely complete by the Second World War. By our measurement from the state’s Vicmap planning data, more than 40% of Canterbury’s land area now sits inside a Heritage Overlay. So EV charger installation Canterbury jobs begin with a question many suburbs can skip: who can see the charger? Our A-grade electricians work from the South Yarra premises on Toorak Road, about 8 km from Canterbury, and the planning check comes before anything else.
Canterbury’s heritage map comes first
The biggest overlay by area is the Maling Road Shopping Centre and Residential Environs precinct. Its citation calls it a highly representative Victorian and Federation-era residential precinct, interspersed with strong and well preserved interwar elements, and singles out three Maling Road landmarks: the Post Office (1908), the Canterbury Theatre (1912) and Malone’s Hotel (1889).
It is far from the only one. The planning scheme also lists the Griffin Estate and Environs precinct along Chaucer Crescent, Dudley Parade, Keats Street and parts of Canterbury and Myrtle roads; the Balwyn Road Residential Precinct; the Canterbury Hill Estate, which takes in parts of Wattle Valley, Highfield, Prospect Hill and Riversdale roads; the Matlock Street precinct; and smaller precincts around Rochester Road and Grange Avenue. Several Canterbury properties are on the Victorian Heritage Register as well.
You can check your own address in a couple of minutes. Search it on VicPlan, create a Planning Property Report, and see whether a Heritage Overlay is listed and whether the spot you have in mind falls inside its boundary. Council’s heritage and property development page walks through the same steps, including how your property’s heritage grading affects any application.
Grading matters for a charger too. Council’s heritage policy sorts places into significant, contributory and non-contributory. For a significant place it aims to protect all significant heritage fabric, including elements that can’t be seen from the public realm; for a contributory place the focus is fabric visible from the primary street frontage. So on a significant house we fix brackets and conduit to later additions or the garage rather than original walls, even where no permit is involved. The statement of significance for your precinct, which council’s interactive heritage map links to, tells you what the original fabric is.
EV charger installation Canterbury: where the charger can go
Clause 43.01-1 of the Boroondara Planning Scheme is specific about chargers. A permit is needed for an electric vehicle charging station only if it is visible from a street (other than a lane) or from a public park. Out of view, the overlay doesn’t apply to it, and the scheme’s general exemption for charging stations under Clause 62.02-2 does.
When a permit is needed, the application is a VicSmart one, assessed under Clause 59.07, and Clause 43.01-4 exempts it from notice and review. A place on the Victorian Heritage Register is a different case: the scheme leaves it to the Heritage Act 2017, so the process runs through that Act rather than an overlay permit.
Council’s local heritage policy adds the design intent. It wants vehicle accommodation and services not to dominate heritage places, and it encourages new garages and carports to the rear, or to the side behind the main front building line where that suits the place. In practice that points a charger toward the garage, the back of the house or a side wall set well behind the front.
Long cable runs to rear garages
Separate houses made up 64.5% of occupied homes in Canterbury at the 2021 Census, with 23.3% townhouses or semi-detached houses and 11.1% flats or apartments. Those homes are roomy too, averaging 3.4 bedrooms. Where the meter box is at the front and the garage is down the back, the cable run is usually the main thing that moves the quote.
- Cable size. Most 32 A single-phase chargers are wired in 6 mm² cable; a long run may need to step up to something heavier, such as 10 mm².
- Route. Under the floor, in conduit along a side wall that can’t be seen from the street, or in a trench along a fence line. Each has a different amount of making good.
- The board. An old or crowded switchboard means a switchboard upgrade for the new charger circuit comes first, and a main switchboard replacement is inspected before it is energised.
- Making good. Patching render, brick or timber on an old house takes time to match, so we plan the route to need as little of it as possible.
Our opinion, plainly: a few extra metres of cable around the back of a house is a better deal than conduit across a contributory front elevation, even before anyone mentions permits.
Solar on a heritage roof, and charging from it
Boroondara applies solar controls almost everywhere it has heritage controls. When we went through the Heritage Overlay schedule in October 2026, 679 of its 750 entries said solar energy system controls apply, and every Canterbury precinct named above is among them. Under Clause 43.01-1, that means rooftop panels visible from a street (other than a lane) or public park need a planning permit. Panels on roof planes that can’t be seen from either don’t, under the overlay.
The local policy asks for visible roof fixtures, such as solar panels, to stay off the principal visible roof form, and to sit in line with the roof rather than on raised frames. That points toward rear and side roof planes.
Once panels are up, a solar-aware charger can soak up daytime generation that would otherwise be exported. According to Solar Victoria, rooftop solar can cut the cost of charging an EV, sometimes to nothing, and a home battery can carry daytime solar over to charging at night. On the network side, CitiPower’s rooftop solar page asks for pre-approval before you sign a solar contract, and export limits may apply. New, upgraded and replacement solar systems also have to meet the Victorian Government’s emergency backstop mechanism, which needs a compliant, internet-connected inverter so generation can be reduced in a minimum system load event. Our solar EV charger installation work covers the charger side of that set-up.
Three cars, one switchboard
In the 2021 Census, 40.3% of Canterbury homes had two registered vehicles and 18.6% had three or more. Two EVs on one supply is a real prospect here.
There are two ways to handle it. Load management lets two chargers share whatever capacity the house has, throttling back when the oven and heating are on. Or the supply itself is upgraded, which on CitiPower’s network is an alteration lodged by a registered electrical contractor. The Victorian Service and Installation Rules also require maximum demand to be limited where an installation’s calculated maximum demand exceeds 100 amps per phase, so a big house adding two chargers gets that calculation done properly.
Honestly, a second charger isn’t always the answer. Two cars that rarely both need a full charge on the same night can share one well-placed unit on a schedule. Where they can’t, a three-phase supply upgrade for charging is worth pricing alongside load management.
Shops and offices on Maling Road
The same visibility test applies to the commercial strips on Maling Road and Canterbury Road, which sit inside the Maling Road heritage precinct. A charger for staff or customers that can’t be seen from the street (other than a lane) or a public park needs no overlay permit; a visible one goes through VicSmart. Our commercial EV charger installation team handles the larger electrical side for businesses.
Frequently asked questions from Canterbury homeowners
Is all of Canterbury on the CitiPower network?
The CitiPower postcode network locator lists CitiPower alone for Canterbury (3126), as at October 2026. Neighbouring postcodes such as Camberwell (3124) and Balwyn (3103) return two networks each, so Canterbury is one of the simpler ones.
What about a charger that only faces a rear lane?
It doesn’t trigger the visibility test, because Clause 43.01-1 excludes lanes. The charger still mustn’t be visible from a street or public park, and other works, such as altering a contributory garage, can need a permit of their own.
What if my house is on the Victorian Heritage Register?
Then the Heritage Act 2017 governs the works rather than an overlay permit. We talk that through before quoting, because the approval process is different.
Can I add solar to charge the car if I’m in a heritage precinct?
Yes, on roof planes that can’t be seen from a street (other than a lane) or a public park, panels need no permit under the overlay. Visible panels need one, since solar controls apply across Canterbury’s precincts.
Can the charger go on a post near the garage instead of a wall?
Yes. A post or pedestal mount works well where no wall suits, and the same visibility test applies to it. If the plan involves a new fence that can be seen from a street or public park, that fence needs its own permit under the overlay.
How far away is your nearest premises?
About 8 km. Our South Yarra premises at 128 Toorak Rd is the closest DUKE base to the middle of Canterbury, and our South Yarra EV charger installation page has its details. For the suburb next door, see the Camberwell EV charger installation page.
Send us your address and a note on where you’d like the car to charge through our online contact form, and we’ll check the overlay before we quote. Or call us on 1300 003 853 from 7am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday. We’re a Victorian registered electrical contractor, REC 35838.