Cheaper Home Batteries Program

The Australian Government is supporting households and small businesses take up battery storage by providing a discount on the cost of installing a small-scale battery system for their home or premises.

The discount will be mostly provided via solar and battery retailers and installers, delivered through existing legislation the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES). It will be administered and regulated by the Clean Energy Regulator (CER).

Program Rationale

The Australian Government has advised the objectives and rationale for the introduction of the program are:

• Increase self-consumption of the customer roof-top solar PV system. Make the most of cheap and clean solar power by storing it and then using that stored power when needed.
• Increasing battery storage means greater grid benefits for everyone, less expensive gas power generation, less poles and wires are required.

Funding Source

The Australian Government is funding the Program at a cost of $2.3 Billion via the Federal Budget. This is contrast to the current SRES funding for PV rebates which is funded through household and businesses electricity bills.

Program Timeline

The Program is available from the 1st July 2025.

Customers are allowed to have their battery system roughed-in prior to this date so long as the system is not installed prior to 1st July 2025. The battery system is considered ‘installed’ when a certificate of electrical compliance or equivalent (e.g. Certificate of Electrical Safety) is signed which confirms that the system complies with all state and territory electrical safety regulations.

The announced Program will continue through to 2030. The discount provided will decline each year until the Program concludes in 2030 in line with current legislation. As currently proposed, the discount will be 50% in 2030 compared to that initially offered in 2025. Each year the discount per kWh will reduce by approximately 10% per annum.

Program Eligibility

• The eligible battery storage system must be installed with a nominal capacity between 5 kilowatt-hours (kWh) and 100kWh.
• Australia wide - across all states and territories.
• The discount is being provided for up to 50kWh of a battery system’s usable capacity. Example is if you choose to install 80kWh of battery capacity, the first 50kWh will be recognised and receive the rebate, the following 30kWh will not receive the rebate.
• Each premise will get the battery rebate once. For example you choose to install a 13.5kWh battery system in 2025 and claim the rebate, and then you choose to add another 13.5kWh battery system in 2027, you will not be eligible to receive a rebate in 2027.
• The program is not means tested, no income or asset tests are being applied for program eligibility.
• Electric Vehicles are not included.
• A single battery system installation at a premises is eligible. Example if you wanted to install a battery at your home and another premises you owned, this qualifies as eligible.
• If you have an existing battery storage system, you can still add to that existing battery so long as you haven’t claimed Battery STCs before.
• You must have solar PV installed or if not installed yet, this must be installed at the time of the battery system in order to receive the battery rebate.
• On-grid battery systems are supported, this is considered any system connected to the National Electricity Market (NEM).
  The on-grid battery systems must Virtual Power Plant (VPP) capable.
• Off-grid battery systems are supported. An off-grid battery system is defined as a system not connected to an electricity network, that being defined as at least one kilometre from a main grid line or where the cost to connected to the grid is in excess of $30,000.
• The off-grid battery system does not need to be VPP capable.

Discount Provided

The Program is providing a discount of approximately 30% off the cost of the battery. 

The discount amount is based on three variables:

• battery useable capacity,
• the number of battery Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs) received,
• the STC price.

In most cases, customers will receive an upfront discount on their quote in exchange for the Battery STCs that are generated as part of the installation.

The useable capacity of the battery is provided on the battery manufacturer’s datasheet. This is separate to another commonly cited variable, the nominal battery capacity (which is always equal or higher that of the useable capacity). The rebate is calculated on the battery useable capacity, not the nominal capacity.

This battery useable capacity is multiplied by the number of Battery STCs generated, which is calculated based on the STCs per kWh factor as determined by the Australian Government.

The number of STCs received per kWh of usable battery capacity is as per the table below.

An example calculation is someone choosing to install a 27kWh battery storage system.

If installing in the calendar year 2025, then the number of Battery STCs per kWh factor is 9.3. This factor is multiplied by the battery storage system useable capacity, 27kWh in this example.

This results in a total number of Battery STCs generated of 251.1 STCs.

In line with the STC legislation and calculation methodology, the number of STCs rounds down to the nearest whole number.

So in this example, the number of Battery STCs rounds down to 251 STCs.

We then multiply this Battery STC number by the STC price received.

If we work off a typical STC price provided to the customer currently, $38 per STC. We can then finalise the discount provided to the customer.

The battery STC discount is then calculated as 251 STCs multiplied by $38 per STC giving us a total discount of $9538 off the cost of that battery system installed.

Next Steps

If you are interested in a getting a free quote for your battery, click "Get a free quote" on the Pure Electric website or click here https://pure-electric.com.au/getafreequote

Resources

DCCEEW - Cheaper Home Batteries Program Website (released 21/05/2025) - https://www.dcceew.gov.au/energy/programs/cheaper-home-batteries

DCCEEW - Cheaper Home Batteries Program Policy Paper (released 23/05/2025) - https://www.dcceew.gov.au/energy/publications/cheaper-home-batteries-program-policy-paper

DCCEEW - Additional information about the Cheaper Home Batteries Program Website - https://www.dcceew.gov.au/energy/programs/cheaper-home-batteries/additional-information

Clean Energy Regulator (CER) - Cheaper Home Batteries Program - https://cer.gov.au/batteries