{"id":39466,"date":"2020-05-18T12:54:02","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T02:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=39466"},"modified":"2024-10-03T09:54:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T00:24:32","slug":"sa-home-battery-scheme-calculator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-home-battery-scheme-calculator\/","title":{"rendered":"SA Home Battery Scheme’s New Calculator Gives Dismal Results (If You Can Find It)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The SA Government commissioned a calculator for their home battery scheme. It shows that, for most homes, even subsidised solar batteries don’t add up yet. So they buried it on their website.<\/p><\/div>\n

Finally, after one and a half years, the South Australian Home Battery scheme has added a battery calculator to their site. \u00a0It’s a tool that’s so useful in helping people understand battery savings, I consider it a vital addition to their website.<\/p>\n

Why is it that, after spending vast amounts of money promoting their battery subsidy, the South Australian government has only gotten around to adding a battery calculator to their site now?\u00a0 Did someone forget?\u00a0 Did the dog eat their battery calculator budget?\u00a0 Or did they simply not realise that when it comes to new technology, people need some helpful guidance?<\/p>\n

I suspect the reason why the battery calculator took so long is that it did not give the answers the state government wanted.\u00a0 Instead of giving subsidised home batteries a glowing recommendation by showing they would soon pay for themselves, the calculator instead shows they are a marginal investment at best for a typical household.<\/p>\n

When bought outright a subsidised solar battery’s payback time can be much longer than the warranty period. And if the batteries are financed, they never pay for themselves.\u00a0 This is despite South Australia having the nation’s highest electricity prices and most generous battery subsidy.<\/p>\n

I can offer some good news if you’re hoping to get a battery that can pay for itself.\u00a0 The calculator doesn’t include the benefits of joining a Virtual Power Plant<\/a> (VPP) or any “special offers” you may be able to get.\u00a0 So there is still hope that VPPs and\/or price decreases will make batteries pay.\u00a0 Unfortunately, VPPs aren’t yet a proven quantity, and we’ll have to wait and see how beneficial they turn out to be.\u00a0\u00a0 Fortunately, we can be confident battery prices will fall in the future.\u00a0 (I’m willing to bet 50 cents a major battery maker announces a price decrease1<\/a><\/sup> within the next two months.)<\/p>\n

Calculator Made By Renew<\/h2>\n

The battery calculator was made for the South Australian Government by Renew<\/a>, and I am confident the one they’ve made does its job well, although I probably wouldn’t say it’s as good as ours.\u00a0 For a start, the SolarQuotes Solar & Battery Calculator<\/a> is a lot more colourful and didn’t cost the taxpayer a single cent.\u00a0 But there is room in this world for more than one battery calculator, and there’s no need to make them fight<\/a> to see which one comes out on top.\u00a0 (But I’m still going to ask Finn to put laser claws on ours, just in case.)<\/p>\n

The Calculator Makes Assumptions<\/h2>\n

In addition to not taking into account VPPs or “special offers” (whatever they may be), the SA Home Battery Scheme Calculator makes several assumptions.\u00a0 These include:<\/p>\n