Nearly $5bn added to Cheaper Home Batteries program

The Cheaper Home Batteries program has become a clear priority of the Federal Government, with a significant expansion bringing the program’s value to $7.2 billion.

This is more than three times the size of its initial $2.3 billion outlay as the Government looks to incentivise more than two million Australians to install a home battery by 2030, amounting to 40 gigawatt hours of capacity.

The Albanese Government committed to one million battery installations when it was re-elected last year.

“163,016. That’s how many Australian households have put in a battery since July 1,” Federal Minister for Energy and Climate Change Chris Bowen told reporters on Saturday.

“Our Cheaper Homes Batteries policy that the Albanese Government took to the election and put a mandate for has been, on any measure, an outstanding success.”

Bowen said Australians have been benefiting from the significant cost benefits of battery installations.

“We know that someone who puts a battery in can reduce their bills by up to 90 per cent and if they already have solar panels that’s a saving of around $1000 a year,” he said. “If you put solar panels and a battery in at the same time that’s a saving of around $2000 a year. So we are managing a program of success and strength.”

By generating their own electricity, households avoid buying electricity at retail prices from the grid, which have increased in recent years as consumers wear the increased maintenance costs of ageing coal-fired plants and higher network costs due to energy infrastructure builds, to name two contributors.

Using batteries also suppresses electricity prices more broadly, with the Australian Energy Market Commission finding that higher battery update could reduce electricity costs for all households by up to three per cent per year.

The Federal Government is also keen to right-size battery uptake, with a tiered system to be installed to ensure the discount remains at around 30 per cent for a range of battery sizes.

Discounts are on offer through STC (small-scale technology certificates), with the STC Factor to taper as the size of battery increases. See support as follows (from May 1, 2026):

The STC Factor will also taper in the years to come as expected battery prices come down.

“Australia is a solar nation – we’ve got more solar on our roofs than pools in our backyards, and we want to match that success with home batteries to cut bills for everyone, for good,” Bowen said.

“We want more Aussie households to have access to batteries that are good for bills and good for the grid – because it means more cheap, fast, safe solar energy is available in our homes night or day, when and where it’s needed.”

Learn more about the Cheaper Home Batteries program here.

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