Is a home battery worth it in Australia?

Honest answer: it depends on three things you control. The price you pay, whether the size fits your consumption, and the plan and VPP you wrap around it. We have simulated batteries against real household smart meter data and analysed real quotes, so this page gives you numbers, not vibes.

What a battery actually saves

A battery earns its keep by storing your excess solar during the day and discharging it in the evening peak. In one of our case studies, on a time of use plan paying 38 cents in the peak and a 7 cent feed in tariff, every stored kWh was worth about 31 cents. Buying cheap overnight power to resell in the peak, the strategy people imagine batteries doing, earned only about 14 cents per kWh. The money is in your own solar, and grid charging strategies added only a modest 10 to 15 percent on top.

For the NSW home we studied in detail, annual savings ranged from about $425 with an 8 kWh battery to about $560 with a 13.5 kWh one. Over ten years the 13.5 kWh battery saved just over $6,000, or roughly $5,000 after counting the feed in credits it gave up. The full working is in our battery profitability analysis and are batteries worth the cost.

The payback arithmetic, then and now

When we ran that case study, the battery cost about $14,500 installed and the savings did not reach breakeven inside the ten year warranty. That was before the federal rebate existed. As at July 2026, the same 13.5 kWh battery attracts an estimated $3,659 federal rebate, and battery hardware itself has become cheaper: the median battery only installation in the quotes we analyse is $18,036 before rebates. Cut a fairly priced quote by the rebate and the arithmetic changes materially. Whether payback lands inside the warranty for your home comes down to the price you pay and how much solar you can shift.

Two trends keep pushing in the battery's favour. Feed in tariffs keep falling, some plans now pay close to nothing for exports, which raises the value of storing rather than selling. And VPPs now pay battery owners real money for access to their capacity, which we compare on our VPP page.

When a battery is worth it

• You pay a fair price. Battery only quotes in our data have a median around $791 per kWh before rebates. Paying far above the market for the same hardware is the single fastest way to make a battery not worth it.
• The size fits your consumption. Our simulations across real households rarely recommend more than 16 kWh. An oversized battery sits half empty in winter and stretches payback for years.
• You put the right plan around it. A time of use plan plus a well chosen VPP can add hundreds of dollars a year to what the battery earns. See best plans for a home battery.

And some reasons are not financial at all. Blackout protection and energy independence drive many purchases, and they are legitimate reasons to buy. Just buy at a fair price, because the rebate and the plan cannot rescue an overpriced quote.

Related: How much does a home battery cost? · How to compare battery quotes · Best battery feed in tariffs