{"id":92273,"date":"2025-05-27T06:26:41","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T20:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=92273"},"modified":"2025-12-22T10:38:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T01:08:54","slug":"home-battery-payback-mb3189","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/home-battery-payback-mb3189\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s (Home Battery) Payback Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Home<\/p>\n

Home battery payback times: they are a’changin’ thanks to the upcoming government rebate. Discover how long simple payback can be achieved in your state\/territory as part of determining if installing a solar battery is worth it for you.<\/p>\n

Home battery simple payback (how long it takes for electricity bill savings\/credits to total the installed cost) within a system’s warranty period could only be achieved under certain circumstances to this point. The federal government battery rebate<\/a>\u00a0 \u2014 officially known as the Cheaper Home Batteries Program \u2014 will be a game-changer in many scenarios, but not all.<\/p>\n

SolarQuotes’ Ronald Brakels<\/a> has recently updated a bunch of numbers to see what’s what in this regard.<\/p>\n

The following table shows estimated annual savings and simple payback with a 10 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery in each Australian capital city for an installed cost of $8,500 that takes into account the federal rebate only<\/b>. This is also based on having a solar power system of more than 7 kilowatts (7 kW) and overnight electricity consumption of 7 kWh, which is what approximately 60% of Australian households consume between sunset and sunrise.<\/p>\n

Note that these figures were also based on May 2025 electricity prices, and from July 1 this year electricity prices will increase<\/a> for most Australians, improving battery payback times.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Annual Savings + Simple Payback Periods: 10kWh Battery @ $8,500 Installed After Federal Battery Rebate<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Capitals<\/th>\nAnnual Savings<\/th>\nSimple Payback Period<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Adelaide<\/td>\n$1,350<\/td>\n6.3 years<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Brisbane<\/td>\n$1,100<\/td>\n7.7 years<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Perth<\/td>\n$1,120<\/td>\n7.6 years<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sydney<\/td>\n$1,030<\/td>\n8.3 years<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Canberra<\/td>\n$700<\/td>\n12.1 years<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Darwin<\/td>\n$620<\/td>\n13.7 years<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Melbourne<\/td>\n$610<\/td>\n13.9 years<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hobart<\/td>\n$410<\/td>\n20.7 years<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

Things are looking pretty good in Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Sydney for achieving simple payback just with the federal rebate in well under 10 years, which is usually the warranty period of a solar battery system these days.<\/p>\n

Although home batteries won’t provide a sub-10-year payback with typical overnight consumption in the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Tasmania in this scenario, they can make sense in the ACT and VIC with above average overnight electricity consumption. While a battery won’t pay for itself at current electricity prices and solar feed-in tariff rates in Tasmania, it can be worthwhile if enough value is placed on backup power \u2014 and payback will improve as solar feed-in tariffs drop.<\/p>\n

But What About …<\/h2>\n

The scenario in the table above is simple. What about payback times in situations such as:<\/p>\n