Home batteries are now much cheaper under Australia’s rebate, but getting together the up-front cash necessary to buy a system will still be a struggle for some who want one. Rewiring Australia says government-backed loans are key to unlocking battery benefits for more Australian households.
How Would An “Electrify Everything” Loans Scheme Work?
Rewiring Australia was founded by engineer and entrepreneur Dr Saul Griffith in 2018 with the goal of accelerating emissions reduction in Australia by making home electrification easier. Among its initiatives is Electrify 2515, a demonstration project supporting hundreds of households in New South Wales’ 2515 postcode area to take their homes fully electric.
While welcoming recent changes to the Cheaper Home Batteries Program (CHBP) rebate that will take effect next year to ensure it can continue until its originally intended finish date, Rewiring Australia CEO Francis Vierboom highlighted the need to ensure more households are able to participate in the scheme.
“While it’s a pleasing development, upfront cost remains a major barrier, especially for lower-income households, renters and people living in apartments.”
Vierboom says the rebates should be complemented by accessible finance; using the example of the organisation’s proposed loan scheme.
Rewiring Australia’s Electrify Everything Loans Scheme (EELS) was developed in collaboration with the architect of Australia’s HECS (Higher Education Contribution Scheme), Dr Bruce Chapman. Under EELS, the federal government would offer inflation-indexed, deferred repayment loans secured on a property’s title1 for the purposes of installing equipment such as solar systems, batteries, and efficient electric appliances; or necessary related improvements such as switchboard upgrades. These loans would be repaid when the property is sold.
In terms of supporting renters, landlords could also access EELS to upgrade rental properties without paying upfront.
“This approach allows households to benefit from electrification without large upfront costs and, unlike time-limited subsidies, provides an ongoing pathway so the transition is not restricted to those who can already afford it,” said Vierboom.
Furthermore, Rewiring Australia says the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) — under which the national solar panel rebate and now CHBP operate — could be further strengthened by supporting a wider range of households and technologies. These include standalone batteries for apartments without rooftop solar panels and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) equipment. And as SolarQuotes’ Anthony recently mentioned; including electric vehicles should be considered.
How Much Does A Home Battery Cost After The Rebate?
Home battery system costs vary greatly depending on the brand, model, features, capacity (how much energy can be stored) and installation scenario. The Cheaper Home Batteries Program rebate is based on an eligible system’s useable capacity, with the level of support reducing over time.
A 10 kWh solar battery (not big by current standards) costs around $4,000 – $7,000 currently after the federal rebate; but then there’s installation costs that can be substantial. A straightforward installation can add a couple of thousand dollars; and a complicated install $3,000 or more.
A couple of example costs in 2025 for slightly larger fully installed systems (and these aren’t necessarily product recommendations):
- Budget: AlphaESS Smile5 (13.3 kWh): $6,600.
- Mid-range: Sungrow SBR (12.8 kWh) $7,000. This also requires a hybrid inverter, so add another $2k – $3k.
- High-End: Tesla Powerwall (13.5 kWh) $11,650.
Dirt-cheap big home battery bundles have also appeared on the market. For example, and again not necessarily a recommendation, VoltX Energy has been offering a *50 kWh* Neovolt home battery system including a 10 kW single-phase inverter from $7,500 to eligible homeowners in NSW, SA, and QLD. And I noticed another current deal offered by the company for selected eligible postcodes in NSW — a 50- kWh battery from $3,999. But the system only has a 5 kW inverter, which is undersized.
Even at such low prices, it’s still a significant up-front chunk of change to pull together during these particularly challenging times and will remain a barrier for many households.
On a related note, learn about solar financing options — and how to avoid the tricks and traps.
Footnotes
- Example cost to register a debt (mortgage or encumbrance) on a property title is $198.00 for the 2025-2026 financial year in South Australia. ↩
About Michael Bloch
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Thank you for your insights Michael.
This seems an important initiative based on the info you have compiled.
One standout piece of financial info missing though, is the “costs involved to register the mortgage on a property title”.
To complete the picture Michael, please include some estimates on this cost to assist candidates with the decision making.
Lawrence Coomber
I can’t believe Tesla still sell batteries their price premium is so high these days.
But yes, the scheme sounds like it has merit, although i do hope there is the option of paying off rather than waiting until ma and pa have lived in the house another 40 years with that compounding inflation rate of interest knocking a hole in the nest egg they have to pay for their beds in the retirement home when they sell the house.
Current battery rebate program is already over subscribed and way ahead of govt uptake forecasts, there is absolutely no need for more government intervention to encourage uptake (at the moment). Revisit in 12 months when the effects of the reduced STCs for bigger systems come into effect, sure. I got a 8kw/50kwh battery system for $8000 in VIC, thanks to approx $17k in STCs, government is doing more than enough to assist.
I tend to agree. The only fair explanation for not including a battery-only option by now* is that the scheme’s runaway success has them looking at pumping the brakes rather than the accelerator. And that is what expanded access would be.
(* only solar homes were eligible at the start because of the need to tie it to the SRES to get the STCs so that it could be quick and not need new legislation. But battery only is entirely viable and would do just as much good for the grid, solar duck, etc, and the required changes could surely have been passed by now).
Like most consumer goods, there are price points and quality (percieved or otherwise) for most people. You can buy a cheap toaster from Kmart or similar retailer from around $15 or you can go to somewhere like David Jones and pay ten times (or more) the price for one.
With solar batteries it is (IMO) to get a quality product that won’t malfunction and burn your house down. The two or three or more thousand dollars you “save” buying the cheap battery may end up costing a lot more.
You may save more money by not buying a battery.
Obviously it’ll depend on each households numbers – kWh used per day and time periods of use, solar generation and correlation with consumption, battery cost, FiTs, cost per grid kWh, grid supply charges, bank interest or other opportunity cost etc.
Every $10,000 you invest in a battery system, costs you $100/year for every percent available e.g. $500 lost per year not in a 5%/year savings account.
At 30c/kWh (grid kWh charge – FiT) every 1000 kWh of battery rather than grid use saves you $300 per year – or 45c/kWh in SA so save $450.
Assuming full depletion every day per year on a 10 kW system, your first quarter plus is spent just repaying your lost interest, but the reality is households don’t have static use and perfect depletion unless said battery is grossly undersized for your needs! Thus capital costs spike, and RoI plummets. As my solar installer said when I last inquired, they just aren’t worth it for RoI.
For anyone who’s into precise numbers we have a calculator which uses your own meter data to give you your own answer.
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/battery-storage/calculator/
It’s a lot better than guessing.
Is the calculator page working right? It claims to be factoring in the federal rebate, but either I’m not seeing any benefit, or batteries are such an awful fit for me that the rebate isn’t helping enough!
Using an old NEM file, my current plan, and assuming $10K for a generic 10 kW battery, I’m looking at a 15 year payback period, and that doesn’t consider lost interest.
Assuming a future more standard plan (higher costs, awful FiTs – so losing $1,000 or so a year on the current option), and the same $10K for a generic 10 kW battery, I’m looking at a 12 year payback period, and again that doesn’t consider lost interest.
Given I’d likely be looking at a 15-20 kW battery system (~peak use + 30% margin), don’t even think about SQ’s 20% reserve, and would need a battery compatible inverter …
Assuming $12K for a Fronius Reserva 15.8 kW (assuming Duck’s Search Assist pricing is correct) and ignoring the inverter issue, payback is 13 years.
I just can’t make the maths work for me.
How would the Fronius rate?
For some reason I was thinking Alpha was Australian, but no they’re Chinese like Sungrow.
Yes Fronius batteries are Chinese made too, but at least the system is not so there’s less risk of Beijing deciding to switch your power off should they want to pressure Canberra.
Options which aren’t Chinese seem hard to find, and while all batteries are expensive, non-Chinese tend to be even more so! : – (
It feels like we are becoming a society addicted to credit and subsidies.
The issue is that all these subsidies and credit come at a cost through increased taxes and general pressure on the cost of living.
One thing I noticed with solar is you cant shop around for the equipment and then organize an electrician due to the way the subsidies work and all the red tape. Also there appears to be a lack of trained electricians and a plethora of solar sales people and companies that are often not completely truthful or at least they are untrained in the actual science and engineering aspect of the products they are selling. They generally dont itemise hardware from labor. Also industry testing and independent evaluation of the products appears to be scant for batteries. At least with panels industry testing has proven effective with some of the overpriced panels being discontinued as well as ones that were too cheap leaving healthy competition for mass produced panels that work fine.