Federal Election: What’s At Stake For Solar & Batteries

Australians are heading to the polls tomorrow to elect their next government. Here’s what each major party’s plans are for battery rebates,  EV tax breaks, gas plans, and nuclear’s impact on rooftop solar.

Coalition Cuts

In its release of costings on Thursday the Coalition announced it will axe a raft of programs related to home electrification and green energy. Programs set to be axed include:

• The $26 billion Future Made in Australia Program;
• The $19 billion Rewiring the Nation Program;
• The $16 billion National Reconstruction Fund;
• The Net Zero Economy Agency.

Funding to Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water will also be cut substantially, while plans for additional funding for ARENA and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation will be curtailed.

Labor’s Home Battery Rebate

Central to Labor’s election campaign is the $2.3bn Cheaper Home Batteries Program, which the Coalition costings reveal would not be supported under a Dutton government.

• This scheme would cover an up-front discount on the purchase and installation of home batteries, with a subsidy of around $372 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) useable capacity, before administrative fees and charges;
• If Labor wins the election, the official start date of this scheme is July 1, 2025, however solar batteries installed from now until then would also be eligible (provided you don’t turn them on);
• The discount is supposed to work alongside existing state schemes, which allows for some big savings through double-dipping — but also some big potential problems, including a perverse incentive for people to quit the grid entirely.
• For a home battery with a 10 kWh usable capacity, the incentive will be approximately $3,720 minus admin fees for an installation in 2025. If you want to estimate how much you could save, try our Federal Government Solar Battery Rebate Calculator;
• Don’t fall for misleading marketing from installers who suggest that the scheme is a sure thing, no matter who wins the election, as the Coalition has revealed in their costings that they will not fund the program.

The Coalition has pledged to get rid of the fringe benefit tax exemption for electric vehicles and EV charging equipment.

Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks

A key sticking point this election has been the fringe benefit tax on electric vehicles, which allows Australians to lease an eligible EV through their employer without paying FBT.

• Opposition Leader Peter Dutton initially promised to protect this lucrative tax break for electric cars, but his party backflipped days later by declaring it would be scrapped;
• The Coalition instead is focusing on petrol vehicles, vowing to halve fuel excise for 12 months and abolish incoming fuel efficiency penalties;
• The EV fringe benefits tax exemption, which Labor has vowed to keep in place, can also apply to EV home charger equipment;
• Depending on your novated lease provider, you can salary-sacrifice the hardware and installation costs of a home EV charger and other charging accessories if they are offered in your lease package.

Gas Versus Electrification

The Coalition has proposed doubling down on gas to reduce energy prices with a plan that includes reserving gas for domestic use on Australia’s east coast.

•  This is despite SolarQuotes analysis that finds almost every Australian household would save considerable amounts of money by getting off gas;
• Our in-house fact checker Ronald Brakels looked into claims made during the election that gas is efficient and vital to keeping Australian homes warm. Ronald found that in almost all cases alternative electric appliances are more efficient to run.

A nuclear lobby group has been making misleading claims about nuclear energy – ignoring the cost to owners of rooftop solar.

Nuclear Impact on Solar

Another key energy policy proposed by the Coalition is a plan to roll out nuclear power stations in the coming decades.

• Our analysis found that claims nuclear would cut energy bills ignored the huge cost to owners of rooftop solar, whose systems would need to be shut down regularly to keep always-on nuclear running;
• SolarQuotes founder Finn Peacock, who used to work in nuclear power in the UK, believes that nuclear power plants will simply never be built in Australia as there are too many obstacles in the way.

The Greens are campaigning on a promise to give renters the right to get solar.

Solar For Renters

The Greens unveiled a plan to expand access to solar for renters by giving them the right to request systems be installed by their landlords.

• Under the Renters Right To Solar scheme, tenants would be able to request a solar panel system up to 8kW capacity be installed at their rental properties;
• Landlords would only be able to deny the tenant’s request on reasonable grounds, such as body corporate rules precluding it, engineering challenges or local electricity network constraints;
• A new $10bn fund established through publicly-owned Snowy Hydro would pick up the tab for the installations initially, but landlords would need to pay for the systems over time;
• Finn thinks that landlords have always been too big a barrier to solar access for renters, and as an alternative has proposed plug-and-play batteries which renters can take with them whenever they move as a solution.

After The Election

Once the election result is clear, we’ll continue to provide analysis on the home electrification policy platform of the next federal government.

Next week and beyond, we’ll cover what the election result means for solar, batteries and EV chargers, and everything else to do with home electrification. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter for a complete rundown.