The battery rebate drops in January 2027. Here is what waiting costs you.
Figures updated 5 August 2026
Published · 5 min read
The federal battery discount is about to get smaller, and most people quoting batteries right now have not been told. On 1 January 2027 the rate drops by roughly 16 percent. If your install lands on the wrong side of that date, the discount in your quote is not the discount you get.
What actually changes
The Cheaper Home Batteries Program does not pay a fixed dollar amount. It creates certificates. The number of certificates per usable kWh is called the STC Factor, it is set in legislation, and it steps down every six months until the scheme closes at the end of 2030.
Right now the factor is 6.8 certificates per kWh. Certificates trade at around $38. Multiply those together and you get the roughly $258 per kWh you see quoted.
From 1 January 2027 the factor becomes 5.7. Nothing else changes — same batteries, same installers, same paperwork. Just less money.
What it costs on a real battery
| Usable capacity | Installed in 2026 | Installed from Jan 2027 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 kWh | $2,580 | $2,170 | $410 |
| 13.5 kWh | $3,460 | $2,890 | $570 |
| 16 kWh | $3,910 | $3,270 | $640 |
| 20 kWh | $4,520 | $3,800 | $720 |
| 27 kWh | $5,620 | $4,710 | $910 |
On the most common size sold in Australia, a 13.5 kWh battery, waiting until January costs about $570.
The question to ask your installer
Ask for the installation date in writing, and ask what happens to the price if they miss it. A confident installer with stock will put a date on paper. An installer who is vague about timing in November and December is telling you something, and it is worth listening to.
Ask for the quote to show the gross price and the discount as separate line items too. If the discount is buried inside a single "after rebate" number, you cannot tell whether a step-down has been passed on to you or quietly absorbed.
See your figure before and after the step-down
Put your battery size in and the calculator shows the discount at today's rate, what the NSW incentives add, and what the same battery is worth once the rate drops.
Check my rebatesIs rushing actually the right call?
Not always, and anyone telling you it always is has something to sell. Battery prices have been falling, and the step-down schedule was designed to track that fall. A battery bought a year from now at a lower hardware price and a lower rebate can land close to the same net cost.
Where the urgency is real is when you already want a battery this summer. In that case the difference between a December and a January install is free money, and it costs nothing to plan around. Where it is not real is if you are being pushed into a bigger system than you need to "make the most of the rebate" before it drops. Oversizing to chase a rebate is how people end up with a battery that never pays back.
Stack the NSW schemes while you are at it
The federal discount is one of three things a NSW household can claim. Connecting the battery to a virtual power plant earns a separate NSW incentive, and the Home Energy Saver zero-interest loan can cover what is left over ten years. None of those are affected by the January change, so the step-down only touches one part of the stack.
If you want the electrical side checked before you commit — switchboard capacity, meter position, whether your existing solar inverter plays nicely with the battery you have been quoted — that is worth a conversation with a licensed electrician such as AF Electrical, independent of whoever is selling you the battery. And if you want installed pricing on the numbers this site produces, eHomes Australia quotes against the full rebate stack in NSW.
Common questions
When does the federal battery rebate reduce?
On 1 January 2027 the STC Factor drops from 6.8 to 5.7 certificates per usable kWh, about 16 percent less. It then steps down every six months until the scheme ends on 31 December 2030.
Does signing a contract lock in the current battery rebate rate?
No. The rate that applies is the one in force on the date the battery is installed, not the date you sign or pay a deposit. If your installation slips past a step-down date, you receive the lower rate.
How much does waiting until 2027 cost on a 13.5 kWh battery?
About $570. The discount falls from roughly $3,460 to $2,890.
Should I rush to install a battery before the step-down?
Only if you already wanted a battery. Hardware prices have been falling roughly in line with the step-down schedule, so waiting is not automatically worse. What you should not do is oversize a system to chase a bigger rebate, because capacity above 14 kWh earns a reduced rate anyway.