FAQ
The federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program currently discounts about $2,500 to $2,700 off a 10 kWh battery, $3,350 to $3,650 off 13.5 kWh, and $3,800 to $4,100 off 16 kWh. It works out to roughly $250 to $270 per usable kWh on the first 14 kWh. The discount comes as small-scale technology certificates your installer assigns and trades, so it reduces your invoice rather than being claimed back later, and the dollar value moves with the certificate market.
On 1 January 2027 the STC Factor drops from 6.8 to 5.7 certificates per usable kWh, a cut of about 16%. On the same 13.5 kWh battery that is roughly $555 to $600 less for an identical installation. It steps down again on 1 July 2027 and then every 1 January and 1 July until the scheme ends in December 2030. The rate you receive is set by the date your certificate of electrical compliance is issued, not the date you sign.
No. There is no consumer application, portal or form for the federal discount. Your accredited installer creates and assigns the certificates. Sunbridge checks eligibility for your address, applies the discount to your quote up front so the price you see is already net of it, and handles the certificate paperwork and compliance certification.
In New South Wales, yes: an incentive for connecting an eligible battery to a virtual power plant, which stacks with the federal discount. It scales with the capacity you make available to the grid up to 28 kWh and has generally landed near $1,000 to $1,100 through mid-2026, though NSW publishes no fixed figure because it tracks certificate prices. Victoria and Queensland have no active state battery rebate — Solar Victoria closed its battery loans and Queensland closed Battery Booster — so the federal discount is the incentive there. Victoria still offers a separate solar panel rebate of up to $1,400, income-tested at $150,000 since 1 July 2026.
Not beyond 14 kWh. Since 1 May 2026 the discount tapers by size: the full rate applies to the first 14 kWh of usable capacity, 60% of it between 14 and 28 kWh, and 15% between 28 and 50 kWh. The bands are marginal, so a larger battery never loses the value earned below it, but the help per kWh falls from around $250 to $270 on the first 14 kWh to about $150 to $163 on the next band. Certificates are only created on the first 50 kWh of usable capacity.
It has to be 5 to 100 kWh nominal capacity, installed on or after 1 July 2025, paired with solar PV rather than charging from the grid alone, and both the battery and inverter must be on the Clean Energy Council approved lists at the time of installation. An installer accredited by Solar Accreditation Australia must be on site, and on-grid systems need the technical capability to join a virtual power plant, though joining one is not required. Support is available once per premises. Portable batteries and electric vehicles are excluded.
