REBATES & POLICY
The federal battery rebate changed on 1 May 2026 — what it is worth now
The federal battery rebate is now tiered by battery size and steps down every six months. Here is the current rate, the schedule, and what it means for the size you choose.
Published 23 September 2026 · Figures last verified 23 September 2026
On 1 May 2026 the federal battery rebate stopped being a flat rate. It is now tiered by battery size, and it steps down every six months until the program winds up in 2030.
If you are comparing quotes, this is the change that explains why two installers can give you very different discount figures for the same battery — and why a quote written in April does not hold in September.
What the federal battery rebate actually is
The Cheaper Home Batteries Program does not pay you money. It creates small-scale technology certificates, which your installer claims and passes on as a discount on your invoice. You never handle a certificate; you just see a lower price.
The federal government expanded the program from an estimated $2.3 billion to about $7.2 billion, and restructured the discount at the same time. The stated aim is to hold the discount at around 30% across battery sizes — which is the clue to why the tiers exist. A flat rate gave much larger absolute discounts to much larger batteries. The tiers pull that back toward a consistent percentage.
How it is calculated now
Your battery’s usable capacity is divided into three slices, and each slice earns at a different rate:
| Slice of usable capacity | Rate | Certificates per kWh | Roughly worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| The first 14 kWh | 100% | 6.8 | ~$250 per kWh |
| 14 to 28 kWh | 60% | 4.08 | ~$155 per kWh |
| 28 to 50 kWh | 15% | 1.02 | ~$39 per kWh |
| Above 50 kWh | — | 0 | Nothing |
The 6.8 figure is the certificate factor for May to December 2026. Certificates are capped at $40 each excluding GST and trade slightly below that, so the dollar column above is indicative rather than fixed.
A worked example
Take a 30 kWh battery installed today. It is worked out in three parts, not one:
- First 14 kWh × 100% × 6.8 = 95.2 certificates
- Next 14 kWh × 60% × 6.8 = 57.1 certificates
- Final 2 kWh × 15% × 6.8 = 2.0 certificates
That is about 154 certificates in total, or somewhere around $5,900 to $6,200 off the installed price depending on the certificate price on the day.
The step-down schedule
The certificate factor falls every six months. This is published well in advance, so you can see exactly what is coming:
| Period | Factor | Period | Factor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan–Apr 2026 | 8.4 | Jan–Jun 2028 | 4.6 |
| May–Dec 2026 | 6.8 | Jul–Dec 2028 | 4.1 |
| Jan–Jun 2027 | 5.7 | 2029 | 3.6, then 3.1 |
| Jul–Dec 2027 | 5.2 | 2030 | 2.6, then 2.1 |
Two things follow from this.
First, the rate is set by your installation date, not the date you sign. A contract signed in December with an install in February gets February’s rate. If an installer tells you signing now locks in today’s discount, that is not how the program works — ask them to confirm the install date in writing.
Second, the step-downs are real but they are not cliffs. Moving from 6.8 to 5.7 in January is about a 16% reduction in certificates. That is worth knowing, and it is not worth rushing a badly-sized system to beat.
What else has to be true
- It must be installed with rooftop solar — new or existing, up to 100 kW. A battery on its own does not qualify.
- The battery must be on the Clean Energy Council approved list.
- It must be capable of joining a virtual power plant, even if you choose never to join one. This is a capability requirement, not a commitment.
- Eligible batteries run from 5 to 100 kWh nominal, but certificates are only claimable on the first 50 kWh of usable capacity.
What this means when you are choosing a size
The honest summary is that the discount is heavily weighted toward the first 14 kWh. Past 28 kWh, each additional kilowatt-hour attracts about a sixth of what the first ones did.
So a bigger battery does not get you a proportionally bigger rebate, and it certainly does not pay for itself through the rebate. What a bigger battery does get you is more stored energy for the evening and more hours of backup in an outage. Those are good reasons to size up. The rebate is not one.
The practical order is: work out what you use after dark, decide how much backup you want, pick the capacity that fits, and then find out what the discount comes to. Doing it the other way round is how people end up with storage they do not use.
Sources
Certificate factors, tiers, eligibility conditions and the worked example method were taken from the Clean Energy Regulator on 23 September 2026. Program funding and the 30% target come from the Regulator’s announcement of the changes.
Certificate prices move daily and the factor changes every six months, so treat the dollar figures here as indicative. The certificates are claimed by your installer, and the exact discount appears on your quote — not on this page.
The one-line version. The first 14 kWh of usable capacity earns about $250 a kWh in discount. Between 14 and 28 kWh it is about $155. Above 28 kWh it is about $39. Size the battery on your overnight usage and your backup needs — not on the rebate.
Not sure which size actually fits your home?
Build Your System asks four questions and returns an indicative package for your property. Or go straight to the eligibility check to see which programs your address qualifies for.
