The Federal Government is celebrating the success of the Cheaper Home Batteries scheme, but how is the $7.2 billion program flowing down to industry and consumers?
A solar and battery installer spoke yesterday on how the initiative is being rolled out, acknowledging a “little bit of disruption” in the beginning (Cheaper Home Batteries was launched on July 1, 2025), but how the program is now “rolling beautifully”.
“Like any scheme coming through it takes a little bit time to get through it (initial teething issues), but it’s rolling beautifully,” Rohan McGlew, from West State Electrics, said during a doorstop interview alongside Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy Josh Wilson.
“The Federal scheme is, without a doubt, the best scheme of a rebate that I’ve seen in 20 years.”
McGlew said West State Electrics has a four-to-six-week lead time on battery installations “depending on the size of the jobs”, and suggested battery interest was increasing due to decreasing prices.
“In terms of the cost of the batteries, yeah, look, we’re always seeing tech become cheaper,” he said. “That’s a given. We’ll see it get smaller and cheaper over time.
“With the combination of the rebates and the pricing of batteries, it used to be a future decision for people that they just couldn’t invest in, and now that the reality is here – that they can make a really well-informed decision – because there’s not pressure on them to make the decision, the policy that’s being rolled out with Cheaper Home Batteries enables consumers to make a really good decision, and it gives us installers (sic) to invest in our people and our systems for a longer term.”
A Cheaper Home Batteries participant highlighted that bills have come down from $1600 to $200, “when we’ve got the aircon running”, as a result of installing a household battery.
Oceana Pettiment was also asked why they installed a battery.
“One, it’s renewable,” they said. “And also, why wouldn’t you want to save money? If it’s good for the environment and it’s good for your pocket, why wouldn’t you? So that’s why we did it.
“That money saved can be better spent on family. Now we can go to Rotto (Rottnest Island) a bit more, the family can go to Bali.”
Pettiment said it cost her family $10,000 to install their “very large” home battery (inclusive of the Cheaper Home Batteries rebate), with the potential to save “three grand” per year.
The Federal Government expanded the Cheaper Home Batteries program in December, growing the scheme’s value from $2.3 billion to $7.2 billion.
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