Small businesses will be eligible for discounts on the installed cost of batteries under the $2.3 billion Cheaper Home Batteries Program announced by the Albanese Labor Government.
Effective July 1, 2025, if the Government is re-elected, the scheme will reduce the cost of a typical installed battery by 30 per cent or around $4,000 (based on a 11.5 kilowatt-hour battery) and cut energy bills by as much as 90 per cent, according to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen.
The discount is calculated at $370/kWh and so increases (and decreases) in line with the size and cost of the specific battery, clean energy news website Renew Economy reports.
While it’s called the Cheaper Home Batteries Program, the rebate is open to businesses which can claim up to a maximum of 50kWh – or a maximum discount of $18,500. The 50kWh discount can be claimed for systems with a total installed size of up to 100kWh.
Notably, businesses that have already invested in a battery can also access the rebate if they add more storage capacity. So too can businesses that have invested in, but not yet installed, a battery prior to July 1.
Although the rebate is not means tested, batteries must be installed alongside solar and must be ready and able to participate in a virtual power plant, a network of interconnected solar and battery systems that are aggregated by one entity – such as a retailer.
The discount will be delivered through the existing Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme – the same program that has successfully delivered solar subsidies since 2011.
There have been four million rooftop solar installations across Australia and while one in three Australian households now have solar, only one in forty households have a battery.