Battery rebate smashes new record as households pile in – and size up – ahead of changes

The already dizzying rate of home battery installations through the federal rebate has hit new heights, as households rush to install their discounted – and mostly supersized – energy storage systems before the change to the scheme’s rules in May.

The latest data from industry analyst SunWiz shows 1.2 gigawatt-hours of Cheaper Home Batteries was registered through the federal Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) in February – a record since the rebate began in July of last year.

The bumper month slammed the door on a short and minor summer lull in activity, delivering a 24 per cent jump in registrations from January to February and setting a cracking new pace for the remainder of the rebate’s current structure.

Source: SunWiz

“Since the STCs [Small-scale Technology Certificates] were introduced [for home batteries], the market has never seen as many registrations as it has over the past month,” SunWiz managing director Warwick Johnston writes in the monthly report.

Source: SunWiz

All states recorded an increase of more than 10 per cent in registered battery capacity in February, the report shows. Tasmania grew by 58 per cent.

The boom happening in Tassie was noted last week by TasNetworks’ Andrew Davis, who wrote on LinkedIn that the island state is now “seeing residential battery uptake like never before.”

Davis says the network company is fielding an average of 50 enquiries about home batteries a day and registering an average of 250 installs per month.

“That’s 3-3.7 megawatt-hours (MWh) of new behind‑the‑meter storage each month,” the writes, “the equivalent of 12–15 community batteries added to the grid.

“Customers are overwhelmingly using batteries for energy arbitrage under Tariff 93 – charging when prices are low, discharging when they’re high. Right now, the primary driver is customer value, not network optimisation,” he says.

“This momentum is reshaping how our customers engage with energy and how we plan and operate our network.”

This is no small thing, considering the runaway success of the rebate, which in its short life so far has seen more than 250,000 households install more than 6.2 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of battery storage around the country.

On the flip-side of its huge and unforeseen success, the Cheaper Home Batteries scheme has churned through its initial budget of $2.3 billion, largely due to another unforeseen outcome – the popularity of super-sized home battery systems of 50 kWh and above.

To address this, federal energy minister Chris Bowen announced in December that the government would boost the rebate’s total budget to $7.2 billion, while also adjusting its settings to make it last longer and go further – including by gearing it towards much smaller systems.

The changes, which will come into play from May 01, will see batteries sized up to 14 kilowatt-hours (kWh) continue to receive the full roughly 30% discount off the up-front cost of a storage system. Batteries sized between 14 kWh-28 kWh will get 60% of the discount, while batteries between 28 kWh and 50 kWh will get 15 per cent.

The five months’ grace afforded to industry and consumers before the changes kick in was expected to drive a levelling up of existing boom – and this clearly is now playing out according to the SunWiz data.

There are now rumours getting about that the Albanese government is modelling further changes to the subsidy that could have it scaled back further – or even wound up early – as it looks to plug holes in the upcoming federal budget.

Citing a “government source familiar with the proposals but not authorised to speak publicly,” the AFR said last week “options modelled by the government include winding up the program early, lowering the discount level, or further reducing the size of the batteries eligible for the subsidy.”

Renew Economy sought comment on the report’s claims from the office of the federal energy minister but had no response.

Meanwhile, the latest data from SunWiz shows rebate applicants appear to be going even bigger on oversized battery systems in 2026 as the deadline for the scheme’s new settings looms.

“The top-heavy skewness of STC registrations continued in February, with growth in the 40–50 kWh segment increasing further, indicating that large batteries contribute more than smaller ones,” says Johnston.

Source: SunWiz

On this front, Johnston says Victoria is leading the pack, with an average battery installation now close to 42 kWh. But the other states also show continuous growth in their average capacity.

In the rooftop solar market, monthly registration volumes set a record, too, marking the largest February ever, slightly above February 2021 and a 40 per cent jump on figures from the traditionally quiet month of January.

“This continues the volatile start to 2026 after a strong finish to 2025, with demand remaining robust despite signs of market maturity and a broader industry shift toward batteries and larger systems,” says Johnston.

For rooftop solar, a total of 281 MW was registered in February, putting the national market 6 per cent ahead of where it was at this time last year. On a state-by-state basis, the Northern Territory led with growth of 73 per cent, while New South Wales, Queensland, and Tasmania all increased by more than 30 per cent.

By segment size, the biggest growth was seen in the 50-75 kW segment, which rebounded by 40 per cent in February after declining in the previous month. Most capacity segments recorded growth, with the exception of the 30-50 kW segment, which declined by roughly 6 per cent, SunWiz says.

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