The federal discount is designed for households and small businesses that generate their own electricity. That is why a battery with no solar behind it is not eligible, however large or well rated it is.
Why solar is a condition
The Cheaper Home Batteries Program sits inside the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme. The idea is to store solar generation for use in the evening rather than export it for a few cents. A battery charged only from the grid does not fit that design, so the rules require the battery to be connected to a new or existing rooftop solar system.
What counts as “solar” for this purpose
- A rooftop solar PV system already on the property, of any age.
- A new solar system installed as part of the same job.
- A system of no more than 100 kW. Larger commercial solar is a different pathway; see mid-scale solar STCs for how the SRES now reaches 100 kW to 1 MW from 1 October 2026.
There is no minimum solar size in the program rules, and no requirement that the panels are recent. See adding a battery to old solar.
If you have a battery-only home
If you have no solar today, you have two sensible options.
- Install solar first or at the same time. You then qualify for the battery discount and also create small-scale STCs on the panels (the 2026 deeming period is five years, with zone ratings of 1.622, 1.536, 1.382 and 1.185).
- Wait. Stand-alone batteries are not covered federally, and state schemes change. WA’s scheme is active and VPP-required at the time of writing; several others, such as the NT scheme, Tasmania’s Energy Saver Loan, QLD Battery Booster and the Victorian Solar Battery Loan, have closed. Check the scheme’s official page before relying on any state incentive.
What this means for installers
Record the existing solar system in your job file: its inverter, its approximate capacity and its connection to the battery. A claim for a battery that cannot be tied to a solar system is a rejection waiting to happen. Our battery rebate eligibility checklist lists what to confirm before you quote, and the battery submission guide shows the evidence the regulator expects.
What this means for you as a homeowner
Ask your installer in writing how the battery connects to your solar and which STC discount is built into the price. Use the battery STC calculator to see the certificate count for your usable capacity. For the program as a whole, read the battery STCs pillar, and for how certificates are settled see how it works.