The Western Australian and federal governments have joined forces to expand Western Australia’s first-ever battery rebate scheme, ensuring tens of thousands of households can store the renewable power they generate at home.
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An estimated 100,000 households are set to benefit from a combination of state and federal election commitments. The $337 million WA Household Battery Rebate and the $2.3 billion Federal Government Cheaper Home Batteries program will ensure around five times as many households can seamlessly access the complementary schemes than originally proposed under the State scheme.
Synergy customers are eligible to receive up to $5,000 and Horizon Power customers eligible for up to $7,500 as part of a joint effort to ensure more households are supported to invest in household batteries.
In another WA first, an estimated four in five households will also be eligible to receive no-interest loans to put towards the upfront cost of buying a household battery, with households with incomes of less than $210,000 per annum to be given access to loans of up to $10,000. In line with WA Labor’s commitment in the 2025 election, no-interest loans worth a total of $200 million are available.
Batteries installed through these programs will help play a vital role in securing WA’s energy future, with households to be paid attractive feed-in tariffs to share their renewable power as part of Virtual Power Plants (VPPs).
Through VPPs, households can sell energy stored in their battery back to the market – helping to decarbonise WA and bolster energy security, while offering financial benefits through above-average feed-in tariffs.
Applications for the rebates and no-interest loans are on track to open on 1 July. To find out more, go to WA Residential Battery Scheme.
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Federal Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said, “West Australia’s household solar uptake is world leading and getting more batteries soaking up our sunshine will be good for bills and good for the grid. It means more West Aussies will have access to cheap, fast and safe solar energy in their homes and businesses night or day, when they need it.”
