\n<\/p>\n
Discounts for larger systems will be wound back under a popular home battery scheme as the program\u2019s budget is tripled.<\/p>\n
The federal subsidy, which has been in place for five months, will get a generous top-up to $7.2bn across four years after initially being earmarked to cost $2.3bn, the energy minister, Chris Bowen, said.<\/p>\n
The fund was thought to be running out rapidly, in part because households were installing systems up to the maximum subsidised size to take full advantage of the one-time offer.<\/p>\n
Bowen said he expected the $2.3bn to be depleted in the coming year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been installing consistently 1,000 a day batteries each and every working day and a little bit less on Saturdays, but still around 500 every Saturday and around 1,000 every working day,\u201d Bowen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say it was even more successful than we thought.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the scheme, eligible households and small businesses have been able to secure a 30% discount on a home battery when installed alongside new or existing rooftop solar.<\/p>\n
Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/strong><\/p>\n Subsidies were available on batteries with capacities of between 5kWh and 100kWh, with the rebate applied to the first 50kWh.<\/p>\n Bowen on Saturday confirmed the first 50kWh of a system would still be eligible for support, but discounting would not be as generous per kWh for medium- and larger-sized batteries.<\/p>\n Staggering support in line with battery size would encourage more households to get the \u201cright-sized\u201d battery, the government said, and keep the scheme open to more households.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know that someone who puts a battery in can reduce their bills by up to 90% and if they already have solar panels, that\u2019s a saving of around $1,000 a year,\u201d Bowen said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd if you put solar panels in a battery in at the same time, that\u2019s a saving of around $2,000 a year.\u201d<\/p>\n From 1 May, systems up to 14kWh \u2013 deemed suitable for small households \u2013 would get the full 30% discount for each kWh.<\/p>\n Discounting would then taper off for medium-sized kits and again for large systems above 28 kWh.<\/p>\n The Nepean Solar Solutions chief executive, Jim Hill, said the changes were a \u201chuge relief\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cA boom-and-bust cycle has been a hugely impactful feature of this industry, so this sensible change that ensures the long-term viability of our sector is a huge relief and we welcome it,\u201d the head of the Sydney-based solar and battery installer said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a small business, we need to be able to plan for the ordering of stock, training and upskilling staff, and indeed the taking on of new apprentices. This approach allows us to do this with confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n The Smart Energy Council chief executive, John Grimes, welcomed the funding boost and backed the rebate changes to allow more households and businesses to get access.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are a responsible industry that believes in spreading the benefits of solar and batteries to as many people as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf that means changes to the rebate, we support that.\u201d<\/p>\n Households that add a home battery can expect $600-$900 per year in savings on energy costs on top of the bill benefits from solar, based on Australian Energy Market Commission figures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Discounts for larger systems will be wound back under a popular home battery scheme as the program\u2019s budget is tripled. The federal subsidy, which has been in place for five months, will get a generous top-up to $7.2bn across four years after initially being earmarked to cost $2.3bn, the energy minister, Chris Bowen, said. The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[3354,4089,16547,2048,611,456,12980,20619,2445,7598,20618],"class_list":{"0":"post-37212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-5bn","9":"tag-australians","10":"tag-batteries","11":"tag-discount","12":"tag-energy","13":"tag-home","14":"tag-injection","15":"tag-overhauled","16":"tag-renewable","17":"tag-rush","18":"tag-subsidy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}