Battery rebates and incentives

The Australian Government's Cheaper Home Batteries Program gives households and small businesses a discount on a new battery installed with solar. It works through the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme: your battery earns small-scale technology certificates (STCs), and you normally assign them to your installer in exchange for a lower price. The Clean Energy Regulator says the discount is around 30% of the upfront cost of installing a battery.

How many STCs a battery earns depends on its usable capacity and when it is installed. Each kWh of usable capacity is multiplied by an STC factor that steps down every six months until the program ends in 2030. From 1 May 2026 the factor is 6.8 for installations in May to December 2026, then 5.7 (January–June 2027), 5.2 (July–December 2027), 4.6 and 4.1 in 2028, 3.6 and 3.1 in 2029, and 2.6 and 2.1 in 2030.

Larger batteries earn less per kWh. The first 14 kWh of usable capacity gets the full factor, 14 to 28 kWh gets 60% of it, and 28 to 50 kWh gets 15%. Capacity above 50 kWh earns nothing.

Example: a battery with 10 kWh of usable capacity installed in October 2026 earns about 10 × 6.8 = 68 STCs. What that is worth depends on the STC price at the time. The government's STC Clearing House pays $40 per certificate, but installers usually sell them on the open market, where prices vary, so ask each installer how much they are taking off for the STCs.

Western Australia: the WA Residential Battery Scheme gives Synergy customers a rebate of $130 per kWh of usable capacity (up to $1,300) and Horizon Power customers $380 per kWh (up to $3,800), on batteries of at least 5 kWh usable capacity. You must join a virtual power plant, the battery must be on Synergy's or Horizon Power's supported list, and it must be installed on or after 1 July 2025. Households with a gross income under $210,000 can also apply for a no-interest loan of $2,001 to $10,000. It can be combined with the federal program and runs until 100,000 rebates have been paid.

ACT: the Sustainable Household Scheme offers home owners loans of $2,000 to $20,000 at 3% interest over up to 10 years, with no fees, for products including home batteries. You must attend a free workshop and meet the lender's criteria. The ACT Government says it can be used alongside the federal program.

New South Wales: the Peak Demand Reduction Scheme pays an incentive when you connect a battery to a virtual power plant, through an accredited provider, as an upfront payment, bill credits or ongoing payments. You can only receive it once per household, and the NSW Government says it can be received alongside the federal program. The separate NSW incentive for installing a battery is no longer available to most households, because it can't be combined with the federal program.

Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory: there is no state or territory battery rebate open to households. Victoria's battery rebate and interest-free battery loans, Queensland's Battery Booster, South Australia's Home Battery Scheme, Tasmania's Energy Saver Loan Scheme (closed 1 September 2025) and the Northern Territory's Home and Business Battery Scheme (fully allocated in June 2025) have all closed. The federal program is still available in every state and territory.

Programs open, close and change often. Check the official page for your state before you rely on an incentive, and ask installers to show each incentive separately in their quote.