Battery jobs have changed how much working capital an installer needs. You give the customer the STC discount upfront, buy the battery from your distributor, and then wait for the certificates to turn into cash. When the certificate value is thousands of dollars per job, the wait is expensive.
The size of the float
At roughly $38 per certificate at the time of writing, a 13.5 kWh battery in 2026 earns about 91 STCs, around $3,450. If you complete ten battery jobs a month, that is about $34,500 of certificate value moving through your business.
| Settlement terms | Certificate value outstanding (10 jobs a month) |
|---|---|
| 1 day | Small, around a day of sales |
| 20 days | About two thirds of a month, tens of thousands |
| 30 days | The equivalent of a full month |
On top of that sits the battery itself, which you may need to pay for within 30 days of delivery. A gap between supplier terms and certificate payment is the classic squeeze.
What actually helps
- Faster settlement. Next day cash turns the float into a rounding error.
- A locked rate. Removes price risk while the claim is processed.
- Clean claims. Under the new evidence rules from 1 March 2026, a query can hold up thousands of dollars.
- Deposits and staging. Reduces how much you fund upfront.
Seasonal pressure
The factor falls from 6.8 to 5.7 on 1 January 2027 and to 5.2 on 1 July 2027, so December demand could surge. Peaks in jobs mean peaks in float. Get your cash terms sorted before the rush.
What this means for installers
Energy Merchants settles established partners within 24 hours, with a locked rate and zero fees, and a compliance desk that pre-checks battery evidence. See the battery STC pillar, the pricing page and the installer guide.
A practical step is to set a rule for how many battery jobs you will fund at once, based on your cash buffer. It is far better to schedule installs at a pace your balance sheet can handle than to stack a dozen jobs and discover your trader is slower than expected. Sustainable growth beats a one-month surge.