Despite the hiccups and protests associated with Western Australia’s Residential Battery Scheme, there has been plenty of interest in the rebate.
How Many WA Solar Battery Rebate Applications So Far?
According to WA Minister for Energy and Decarbonisation Amber-Jade Sanderson, there had been 8,800 applications from households across Western Australia as at August 21 2025; with over 5,500 of those “already on their way to installation”.
How The Scheme Saga Unfolded
A few weeks prior to Western Australia’s state election in March, Premier Roger Cook signalled WA Labor’s intention to offer home battery rebates of up to $5,000 for Synergy customers and up to $7,500 for Horizon Power customers under a state scheme. This would be accompanied by an optional means-tested no-interest loan of up to $10,000 for additional or replacement solar panels as part of a battery installation.
Solar batteries installed under the scheme would need to be Virtual Power Plant capable; but VPP connection wasn’t mandatory.
The pledge hinged on WA Labor regaining power after the state election, which it did. The program was to initially start on or before 1 July 2025, and would benefit 19,000 Synergy and up to 1,000 Horizon Power customers — so, 20,000 all told.
But Federal Labor subsequently pledged a national battery rebate if it won the federal election; and the party was victorious. The question then was whether the WA rebate could be claimed alongside the national battery subsidy, and if so, how things would work.
In early June, just weeks before both programs were due to formally launch, the Cook Government did some recalibrating of its scheme.
- Reduced to up to $1,300 for Synergy customers ($130 per kWh of battery capacity up to 10 kWh).
- Reduced to up to $3,800 for Horizon Power customers1 ($380 per kWh of capacity up to 10 kWh).
- The number of rebates expanded to provide support for up to 100,000 households.
- Connection to a VPP compulsory.
- WA subsidy “stackable” with the national rebate.
- Households with combined annual incomes of under $210,000 eligible for a zero-interest loan from $2,001 to $10,000.
Rebate Rejiggering Vindicated?
We saw a significant amount of pushback from commenters here on SolarQuotes about the changes, but as Minister Sanderson pointed out in her recent comments to State Parliament regarding the original scheme design:
“That means that our entire allocation would have been exhausted by the end of the year and it would have been first in, best dressed—sorry for those who missed out.”
And concerning VPP connection being mandatory:
“It will enable us to synchronise that demand and those batteries at times of peak demand, which means we will be able to have more flexibility around the grid and enable the stabilisation of the grid rather than all the solar panels pushing energy into our grid during the day when no-one is using it and everyone coming home and drawing down on the grid at peak.”
But unlike in some other states, WA rebate beneficiaries have little/no choice in VPP programs, with one available for Horizon customers (Horizon Community Wave) and two for Synergy customers — Synergy Battery Rewards and Plico Energy’s VPP.
Hardware Choices Growing (Oh So Slowly)
Another thorny issue with the Scheme is how long it’s taking to get hardware on Synergy’s and Horizon Power’s Supported Solutions lists; which is necessary for state rebate eligibility.
Not long before the program went live, twenty-six technology provider applications had been received, but the scheme kicked off with just a handful approved.
By August 21, only eleven were on Synergy’s list and seven on Horizon Power’s. Sigenergy’s SigenStor was finally listed by Synergy on August 22. Given the popularity of Sigenergy gear, it will be interesting to see if its inclusion provides any significant lift to application submission rates. But as at early this morning, another very popular brand, Tesla, is still nowhere to be seen.
For the latest on the program, see the SolarQuotes WA Residential Battery Scheme Explainer, which is updated as new information becomes available.
Footnotes
- Learn more about installing solar and batteries in regional WA (Horizon Power’s service area). ↩
About Michael Bloch
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I presume WA customers can just take the Fed rebate, which doesn’t require VPP signup and has a wider range of systems eligible.
So, we cant really know how successful the state plan is unless we know how many federal rebates were applied for in WA in the same period.
If the numbers are not to far apart, then the state system is a success and is working, if it is much lower than the number of federal rebates applied for, then we know it isn’t working very well.
Find it interesting that there is a lot of interest to install batteries in WA as the government provides our electricity sweetened with up to three subsidies, one federal and two state, especially before the elections. In our case of a pensioner couple with a 6.6kW/5kW inverter system, we have not payed for any electricity for several years despite a low FIT of 2c/kWh and 10c/kWh after three PM.
Given the demonstrated untrustworthiness of the Crook state government regarding this scam, so far, the numbers provided by the state government, for applications for the WA government scam, lack credibility.
And, I believe that ministers of governments in Australia, have been shown to have misled the parliaments, before this occasion.
It’s becoming more likely that Tesla won’t sign on to the WA Battery Scheme. CSIP-AUS is where heads are butting.