Subsidies for Australia’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program (CHBP) are being adjusted to ensure the program’s ongoing viability out to the intended finish date. We take a look at the impact the rebate reduction will have on financial support for some popular home storage systems.
How Much Will The Battery Rebate Reduce By?
Just as the rebate works now, the impact will vary based on the useable capacity of the installed system. The following table provides examples of the effect of the changes out to the end of 2026 on some popular battery systems of various capacities, and a few big battery packages I’ve seen being promoted about the place.
Note that the rebate values indicated below are approximations only, and *before* admin fees and charges; which will vary but can be around 10% of the full rebate amount.
| Models | Useable Capacity |
2025 Rebate Value |
Jan-April 2026 Value |
May-Dec 2026 Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sigenergy Sigenstor | 15.6 kWh | $5,803 | $5,241 | $4,243 |
| Tesla Powerwall 3 | 13.5 kWh | $5,022 | $4,536 | $3,672 |
| Sungrow SBR Series | 16 kWh | $5,920 | $5,360 | $4,120 |
| BYD Battery Box | 16.6 kWh | $6,175 | $5,577 | $4,315 |
| iStore Smart Battery | 15 kWh | $5,560 | $5,040 | $3,960 |
| AlphaESS Smile | 13.34 kWh | $4,962 | $4,482 | $3,628 |
| Fox ESS | 13.9 kWh | $5,170 | $4,670 | $3,780 |
| Dyness Pro Package | 50 kWh | $18,600 | $16,800 | $6,960 |
| VoltX Neovolt Package | 48 kWh | $17,840 | $16,1208 | $6,880 |
| Anker Solix X1 Package | 30 kWh | $11,160 | $10,080 | $6,160 |
Or, in a graph:
The above listings are examples and not necessarily product recommendations. To learn everything you need to know about choosing the right system for your circumstances, see our comprehensive home battery guide.
Why Is The Home Battery Rebate Being Reduced?
It started becoming clear very early after the formal launch of the federal battery rebate that the scheme’s originally announced funding would run out (much) sooner rather than later; as early as June 2026. This was in part due to the rapidly growing capacity of battery systems being installed1, as a bigger battery means more rebate.
The situation was such that subsidy structure changes were needed fast — and changes were always on the cards based on the program’s performance. That happened on Saturday. In summary; the changes are:
- Original $2.3bn budget has expanded to $7.2bn over the next four years and is anticipated to deliver an additional 40 gigawatt-hours of storage capacity.
- The subsidy will be accompanied by tightened requirements, will reduce over time at a higher rate than originally planned — and every six months instead of annually.
- While the first 50kWh of a system up to 100 kWh will still be eligible for support, the subsidy will be reduced significantly for larger systems under a new tier structure.
- The changes will apply to home batteries installed from the start of May, 2026.
Those are the nuts and bolts, and you can find more discussion on the battery rebate changes here.
“Promise Made, Promise Kept”
Commenting on the changes to the scheme and its ongoing success, Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the Cheaper Home Batteries program has assisted more than 160,000 Australian households to date; with around three-quarters of installations in Australia’s suburbs and regions.
“… it’s all about making sure that the support remains available right up to 2030 like we promised at the last election. Promise made, promise kept; and it’s great to see so many Australians taking up the Cheaper Home Batteries policy,” he said.
For Australian households that don’t wish to or can’t install a battery, there will be flow-on benefits. According to the Minister, the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) found increased home battery uptake could deliver a (conservative) 3% reduction in bills annually across the energy system through smoothing out peak pricing; particularly in the evenings when wholesale electricity costs can go sky-high.
Stay up to date with what’s happening with the program, solar generally and Australia’s home electrification revolution by subscribing to the SolarQuotes newsletter; delivered to your inbox each week.
Footnotes
- Average battery size since October 2025 is estimated at ~28 kWh, compared to installations in 2024 averaging 10 – 12 kWh. ↩
About Michael Bloch
RSS - Posts
Only a politician could use a statement like “promises made, promises kept” while substantially changing what he originally promised…
Here’s hoping Wright’s Law starts kicking in: “for every doubling of cumulative production [and we can include supply chains and installation skills in the early stage], the cost per unit decreases by a fixed percentage as a result of increased experience, efficiency, and economies of scale”.
We should also see maturation of return economics (helping payback and returning export value to PV) as retailers see value in peak period battery feed-in-tariffs of 20c/kWh or more. This exceeds the highest hour of wholesale prices across the last year and should be viable up until batteries themselves (including utility) might smooth that out. In which case, the scheme can be posited as having worked in a way that will save consumers the seven billion $ it cost them as taxpayers.
The government seems finally to have understood you’ll never win this in the toxic world of social media politics, or by relying upon a fictitious market. Just invest heavily in where we need to go, the people will follow. Target households above all, go straight to the voters. As Kissinger once said, you only win hearts and minds when you have people by the balls. Do as the opponents do, seek forgiveness, not permission. People will forget the debates when they’re living the realities.