Murrumbeena already has one of Glen Eira’s three council EV charging sites, at the Murrumbeena Park Community Hub on Gerald Street. Home charging is still the main event, though, and the EV charger installation Murrumbeena homes need tends to hinge on one thing: how far the car sits from the meter box. In a suburb of interwar houses, townhouses and flats, that distance varies a lot. We send electricians from our Brighton premises at 99 Bay St, about 7 km to the west, and every job runs under REC 35838.
Interwar houses, townhouses and the long walk to the garage
Glen Eira’s own history of the municipality describes Murrumbeena as strongly characterised by interwar development, built over land that was once pastoral runs. The 2021 Census adds the modern layer. Separate houses made up 45.6 per cent of occupied homes, townhouses and semis 25.4 per cent and flats 28.8 per cent. Some 45 per cent of households had two or more registered vehicles.
That mix produces three common layouts:
- a house with the switchboard near the front door and a garage or carport at the far end of a long block
- a townhouse with a garage beside or under the living area, often only a few metres from its own meter
- a flat with a numbered bay in a shared car park, where the owners corporation has a say
The third layout is mostly paperwork with the committee, and our strata and apartment charging work covers it. The first layout is the one that needs the most thought on site. For a 32 A single-phase circuit the cable is usually 6 mm²; stretch the run to a back garage far enough and voltage drop pushes the cable size up. Length, cable size and the route all show up in the quote, which is why we measure before we price anything.
Getting power from the meter box to the back of the block
There are three realistic routes to a rear garage on a Murrumbeena block, and the right one depends on the garden, the paths and what’s already there.
Surface conduit runs along walls, eaves or a fence line. It’s quick, easy to inspect and easy to extend if a second charger turns up later. The trade-off is that you can see it.
An underground trench hides the cable under lawn or paving. It needs a clear path past trees, drains and garden beds, and lifting and relaying pavers adds time.
Through the roof space is an option when the garage is joined to the house. Access and roof height decide whether it’s practical.
If the garage already has power, we still check that circuit’s rating before reusing anything. A car drawing around 7 kW for several hours is a heavy, sustained load, so our standard approach is to give the charger its own circuit straight from the board.
That makes the switchboard the first stop on every visit. Depending on its age, a board may still have old fuses, no spare room for another circuit or no suitable safety switch, and a charger needs a properly protected circuit of its own. When the board can’t take it, we upgrade the switchboard ahead of the charger. Once the wiring is in, the six tests Energy Safe Victoria makes compulsory include proving that each safety switch trips.
For what it’s worth, we’d rather run a longer, tidier conduit along a fence than cut a straight trench through a 1930s garden. Old gardens take years to grow back. Our guide to home EV charger installations goes through the standard job in more detail.
Beauville Estate, the village shops and other heritage pockets
Murrumbeena’s heritage controls are patchy rather than blanket, but where they apply they matter. The Beauville Estate and Environs Precinct (HO12), around Beauville Avenue, Gloucester Court and parts of Dalny Road, is significant at state level as the first large housing estate built by the A.V. Jennings Construction Co. in the 1930s. The Murrumbeena Village Precinct (HO187) protects the shops along Neerim Road and Murrumbeena Road, including two old motor garages. A handful of individual houses and the primary school on Hobart Road are listed too.
In any of these places, Council’s approval is needed for a charger that people could see from the street, lanes excepted, or from a public park. The park part is easy to miss in Murrumbeena. If a heritage-listed property faces or backs onto open space, such as Boyd Park along the old Outer Circle Railway line, a charger on the rear wall can still need a permit. Glen Eira’s page on Heritage Overlay controls sets out what is exempt.
A visible charger isn’t a deal-breaker. It goes through VicSmart, the streamlined permit stream, and we can supply the photos and drawings Council asks for. Most of the time, though, a side wall or the inside of the garage avoids the question.
EV charger installation Murrumbeena on the Ormond zone substation
Murrumbeena is on United Energy’s network. The distributor’s December 2025 planning report names the Ormond zone substation, fed from the Malvern Terminal Station, as supplying Murrumbeena, Bentleigh East, Hughesdale, Ormond and parts of Oakleigh South. It also lists Ormond among the substations with a forecast limitation that would show up if a transformer failed at a time of peak summer load.
None of that stops you installing a charger. It does explain why the network cares when you charge. United Energy only accepts wall chargers put in by a registered electrical contractor, who must also record each one on the network’s myEnergy portal. Some smart chargers go further and adjust their output to what the network is doing. We set the charger’s schedule with you at handover, and United Energy itself points out that charging in the middle of the day lets households on time-of-use tariffs soak up renewable energy when it’s most plentiful.
Where a house needs more capacity, for example for two cars and electric heating, we look at load management first and a three-phase supply upgrade second.
Townhouses, flats and the Stage 1 activity centre
Murrumbeena sits in Stage 1 of the Victorian Government’s Activity Centres Program with Carnegie and Hughesdale. Measured off the state’s zoning maps, the Housing Choice and Transport Zone now spreads over close to half of the suburb, so more townhouses and apartment buildings are on the way.
If you’re building or buying new, the easiest charger to install is the one planned before the plaster goes on. Ask the builder to lay a spare conduit between the meter box and every garage, to leave room on the board, and to size the supply for a 7 kW load. In a townhouse group with a shared driveway, check the plan of subdivision before anyone trenches across common property, because common property is managed by the owners corporation rather than by any one owner.
How fast does a Murrumbeena household need to charge?
Slower than most people think. On Solar Victoria’s numbers, in its explainer on how fast different EV chargers are, an ordinary 10 A power point delivers roughly 2.3 kW, while a single-phase wall box manages about 7.2 kW. United Energy’s guidance is that a power point copes with up to about 200 km of driving a week. For 200 to 500 km, it points to a dedicated wall unit, which by its estimate needs between eight and 12 hours for a modern EV.
The car has the final say. Every EV has a maximum AC rate its onboard charger will accept, so a bigger wall unit won’t speed up a car that can’t take it. For school runs, a weekday commute and the odd weekend down the coast, a 7 kW unit on a single-phase supply is the sensible middle.
A 22 kW home charger is a different animal: United Energy points out it requires a three-phase supply, and it’s only worth having if the car’s onboard charger can take that much. We’d check both before recommending one.
The Murrumbeena Park charger is handy, not a home plan
Council’s charger at the Murrumbeena Park Community Hub is useful while the kids play on the park’s sportsgrounds off Kangaroo Road, and Council says its stations run on renewable electricity bought through the Victorian Energy Collaboration. Signs at each site set a limit of between two and four hours. Since 1 October 2026 it has also cost money to use, and Council brought in charging and overstay fees after cars kept sitting in the bays past the posted limits.
That makes it a good top-up and a poor substitute for a charger in your own driveway. Carnegie residents face the same trade-off with the pool chargers on Moira Avenue, as our Carnegie charger installation notes explain.
Frequently asked questions for Murrumbeena homes
Where is the public charger in Murrumbeena?
At the Murrumbeena Park Community Hub, 28 Gerald Street. Council has charged for it since 1 October 2026. You start a session in the Chargefox app, and the signage shows the time limit.
Our garage is at the back of a long block. Is that a problem?
Not a problem, just more work. Distance can mean a thicker cable, and whether we go along a fence, underground or through the roof changes the labour. We measure it on site before we quote.
We live on Beauville Avenue. Can the charger go at the front?
It can, with a permit. The Beauville Estate sits in a Heritage Overlay, so a street-facing charger goes through VicSmart. Put it on a side wall or inside the garage, away from public view, and no application is needed.
Can I start with a normal power point?
Yes, if you drive fewer than about 200 km a week. Use the cable that came with the car, plug it straight into the wall, and never use household adaptors or daisy-chained extension leads.
Does United Energy need to know about my charger?
Yes. Each wall charger has to be recorded with United Energy through its myEnergy portal by the contractor who installs it. That lodgement is part of our job.
Interwar house, townhouse or flat, our first visit starts at the meter box and follows the walk to the car. Bentleigh East, across North Road, runs off the same Ormond zone substation; see our Bentleigh East charger installation page. Use the DUKE EV contact form to arrange a time, or phone 1300 003 853 from Monday to Saturday, 7am until 7pm.