The Cheaper Home Batteries Program is coming. Are you ready to get a major rebate?
Have you been considering adding battery storage to your rooftop solar system? Or are you still weighing up whether to install a complete system, including rooftop panels and a battery?
If you’re a homeowner, small business owner, or involved in a community facility, now’s the time to crunch the numbers and make a decision. Like, right now!
That’s because Labor’s election win means their national battery rebate scheme, the Cheaper Home Batteries Program, is about to kick in.
We expect it to be very popular, so you need to get onto it ASAP!
10 things we know about the Cheaper Home Batteries Program?
1. The Cheaper Home Batteries Program will launch on July 1, 2025.
2. It will offer a rebate of up to $372 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of usable battery capacity.
3. Batteries must meet certain requirements to be eligible (see details below).
4. The subsidy is not means-tested.
5. The rebate can be combined with incentives from existing state/territory schemes.
6. The rebate is uncapped, which means there’s no limit on the number of subsidies available.
7. It’s an expansion of the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES), which already provides the framework for the long-running and hugely popular national solar panel rebate.
8. In addition to homes, the subsidy is also available to small businesses and community facilities.
9. While the official start date is July 1, 2025, batteries before that date are also eligible as long as they aren’t switched on until July 1 (although attached new solar systems can be).
10. As with the solar panel rebate, the subsidy amount will reduce each year until the end of 2030, when the scheme ends.
While there are a few other finer details to be worked out and announced, what we know has already been enough to encourage people to get the ball rolling.
How much will you save off the cost of installing a battery?
As per point 2 above, the Cheaper Home Batteries Program will offer a rebate of up to $372 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of usable battery capacity.
Deducting the estimated costs of administrative fees, the actual battery price reduction will be around $330 per usable kWh when the scheme begins this year (less in future years).
So, for a home battery with 10 kWh usable capacity, the incentive will be $3,720 in 2025, which, after fees and charges, is likely to lower the installation cost by around $3,300.
If you’re in NSW, that could stack with around $2,000 more in rebates through the state Peak Demand Reduction Scheme (PDRS)
While only NSW and the NT currently offer separate rebates, WA will be introducing one soon. WA will also offer zero-interest loans to help with the purchase of batteries, as Victoria and the ACT already do.
Which batteries will be eligible for the Cheaper Home Batteries Program?
– Only batteries approved by the Clean Energy Council are eligible.
– The minimum amount of usable capacity covered under the scheme is 5 kWh.
– The maximum amount of usable capacity is 50 kWh (although if you install a system up to 100 kWh, you will still receive the rebate for a 50-kWh system).
– Installations where solar is already present on the premises are eligible (the rebate won’t apply to standalone battery setups).
– Installations in homes, small businesses, or community buildings are eligible.
– On- and off-grid systems are eligible.
– Solar batteries must be capable of connecting to a Virtual Power Plant (VPP), although there’s no requirement to join a VPP.
– Installers must have appropriate battery installation accreditation.
What size battery should you get?
While every home is different, in general, adding any size battery will be more advantageous than a solar system with no battery.
Keep in mind that getting a solar system with battery storage isn’t about going completely off-grid. The battery is there to allow you to maximise how much of your rooftop solar you can use throughout the day, reducing your reliance on the grid (and reducing your power bills).
When the Smart Energy Council crunched the numbers on household power usage, it concluded that the battery you need to lower bills is smaller than you might think.
It found that to avoid using power during the evening peak, over 90 per cent of households could get by with a battery as small as 6 or 7 kilowatt-hours.
That’s smaller than the average battery installation, with two of the most popular batteries in Australia – from BYD and Tesla – being around 13 kWh.
Nevertheless, with this limited opportunity to receive the Cheaper Home Battery Program rebate, it’s worth thinking about getting the biggest solar battery you can afford.
Why is there a focus on battery storage?
With Australia famously leading the world in our rate of rooftop solar installations, we now have (over)abundant solar power in the middle of the day. We’re at the point where homes with solar don’t need any power from the grid during daylight hours and are instead sending their excess back into the system.
However, in the evening, as people return home and the electricity grid has a corresponding sudden spike in demand, the sun is setting or has set, meaning solar production has dropped away to zero.
Households with a rooftop solar and a battery can charge their battery when the sun is shining and they’re producing more power than they need, then use that saved power later. This helps everyone because it reduces the amount of power being drawn from the grid at times of peak demand.
The Smart Energy Council modelled what would happen to peak power prices if there were 1 million batteries installed in Australia and found that it would save $1.3 billion every year on wholesale power prices.
GloBird Energy is fully onboard with ZEROHERO
If you can use more power during the day and less during the evening peak, that frees up your excess to go into the grid at that time of greater demand. For example, you could store energy during the free midday period and discharge during the evening peak when prices are higher.
The ZEROHERO energy plan is designed to give those who can follow that usage and feed-in pattern the best return on investment of their home battery with the least fuss.
We’ve even included an incentive for simply not drawing any power from the grid during that high-demand evening peak. If you don’t draw any energy from the grid, that ZERO usage during the peak will earn you $1 a day. And if you can go further and sell excess energy at that evening peak, you get a bonus feed-in rate too.
Read more about how GloBird has created the best deal for solar battery owners.
Here’s what you should do to take advantage of the Cheaper Home Batteries Program
If you think this might be the incentive that confirms your move to a home battery, don’t wait until July to do your research, get quotes, or book your installer. Accredited installers are already reporting a spike in confirmed bookings.
Keep in mind that there are almost always a few weeks between accepting a quote and the battery being installed, so with anticipated higher demand, the timeframe might be extended.
If you don’t have solar yet, start there, not only because a solar system is a requirement for accessing the battery rebate, but also because pairing the two can deliver the best value long-term.
Make sure any battery you’re considering is VPP-capable, meaning it must technically support remote communication and control. This ensures systems are compatible with a more dynamic, responsive energy grid.
If you do get a quote, make sure you stipulate that going ahead depends on no changes that would affect your installation being made to the scheme before July 1st.
And, most importantly, if you’re able to get the installation in place before July, make sure it’s not commissioned before July 1st, or you won’t be able to claim the rebate.