Solar battery rebate - Updated September 24th 2025
The end of our participation with the WA battery rebate and loan...for us...for now.
We have decided to withdraw our support for the WA battery rebate.
The rebate pays $130 per kWh of battery storage up to a maximum of $1,300.
A lot less than the $5,000 promised by the WA Government just prior to the WA election earlier this year.
Broken promises have been compounded with carefully hidden conditions that make it a bad deal for everyone.
Why the WA battery rebate is a bad deal for you.
It's not so much that there is a 2 year obligation to join a VPP.
It's that hidden away in the fine print is an enduring right for Synergy to control your system forever.
Rather than explain it in detail here, please read this Facebook post.
It's good to see that Tim Cahill, someone I know well, has raised this with the Ombudsmen.
On 5th September, this interesting piece appeared on the ABC online website.
It explains why retailers are up in arms about the WA rebate but in my opinion doesn't get to the crux of the problem.
The real problem, is, as described above, the unfairness of the enduring conditions Synergy have hidden away in the small print.
Why the WA battery rebate is a bad deal for us.
It's pretty much the same as for you.
A lasting obligation that we ensure your installation remains 'Synergy connected'.
If it were just for the 2 year VPP, we would have been ok with that, but it is not.
Heavy-handed wording makes it clear in every communication we get from them...
"It is a requirement that you..."
How can we control whether you remain connected to Synergy forever?
How can we control whether a manufacturer releases a firmware update years later that disables the connection?
The way the WA rebate has been devised is designed to meet Western Power and Synergy's needs, not yours or ours.
The rebate is paid to the retailer, not the end user.
Clever, because that way they can control us.
We have to do what they say as it's a binding business to business contract.
Why the WA battery rebate is a bad deal for installers.
At the end of a hard solar and battery install, they have to do a test to make sure the installation connects to Synergy.
It's called the 'Installer Test Tool Kit'.
If the install has been done correctly, if the firmware versions are right, it should work.
Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't, and when it doesn't, it's up to the installer to troubleshoot it.
Understandably, they are saying 'no'.
They aren't paid extra for hours trying and failing to fix someone else's errors.
If our installers say no, then it falls back on us.
Non-compliant, so no rebate paid to us even though we've deducted it already from your quote and invoice.
We hope that we can return to the WA rebate when the enduring clauses on clients and conditions on retailers, have been removed.
The Federal Battery subsidy
This subsidy is much more valuable than the WA rebate and has no tricky fine-print.
The WA subsidy is capped at $1,300, the Federal subsidy to all intents, isn't.
You only get one chance at the subsidy claim, so consider that.
At time of writing the Federal subsidy is $344 per kWh of usable battery storage.
Therefore a 15kWh battery is discounted by $5,160 and a 30kWh battery by double that.
For installations completed in 2026 the subsidy will drop to $311 per kWh.
The 2 x STC jobs per day rule.
Accredited installers are only allowed to do 2 x STC jobs per day.
That's to stop the cowboys from getting up to the tricks that they used to get up to.
It was a great rule when STCs were only about solar panel installs.
Who could do more than two solar installs a day?
But with the Federal battery subsidy, batteries are also an STC claim.
So a solar and battery install uses up the two per day limit.
Even adding an extra battery and a couple of extra panels to an existing job, and the installer is done for the day.
It's ridiculous and needs to be changed.
SAA who run this have asked for member comment.
Fingers crossed that common sense will prevail soon with a rule change.
Just to be clear.
Solar4Ever fully supports the Federal battery subsidy.
We do not, at this time, support the WA battery rebate.
If Synergy delete the contentious contract clauses for customers and retailers, then we would happily rejoin.
Solar4Ever have been selling and installing solar in Perth, WA since 2011.
or email
This review was written by Andrew MacKeith, Solar4Ever service manager since 2011.
We have decided to withdraw our support for the WA battery rebate.
The rebate pays $130 per kWh of battery storage up to a maximum of $1,300.
A lot less than the $5,000 promised by the WA Government just prior to the WA election earlier this year.
Broken promises have been compounded with carefully hidden conditions that make it a bad deal for everyone.
Why the WA battery rebate is a bad deal for you.
It's not so much that there is a 2 year obligation to join a VPP.
It's that hidden away in the fine print is an enduring right for Synergy to control your system forever.
Rather than explain it in detail here, please read this Facebook post.
It's good to see that Tim Cahill, someone I know well, has raised this with the Ombudsmen.
On 5th September, this interesting piece appeared on the ABC online website.
It explains why retailers are up in arms about the WA rebate but in my opinion doesn't get to the crux of the problem.
The real problem, is, as described above, the unfairness of the enduring conditions Synergy have hidden away in the small print.
Why the WA battery rebate is a bad deal for us.
It's pretty much the same as for you.
A lasting obligation that we ensure your installation remains 'Synergy connected'.
If it were just for the 2 year VPP, we would have been ok with that, but it is not.
Heavy-handed wording makes it clear in every communication we get from them...
"It is a requirement that you..."
How can we control whether you remain connected to Synergy forever?
How can we control whether a manufacturer releases a firmware update years later that disables the connection?
The way the WA rebate has been devised is designed to meet Western Power and Synergy's needs, not yours or ours.
The rebate is paid to the retailer, not the end user.
Clever, because that way they can control us.
We have to do what they say as it's a binding business to business contract.
Why the WA battery rebate is a bad deal for installers.
At the end of a hard solar and battery install, they have to do a test to make sure the installation connects to Synergy.
It's called the 'Installer Test Tool Kit'.
If the install has been done correctly, if the firmware versions are right, it should work.
Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't, and when it doesn't, it's up to the installer to troubleshoot it.
Understandably, they are saying 'no'.
They aren't paid extra for hours trying and failing to fix someone else's errors.
If our installers say no, then it falls back on us.
Non-compliant, so no rebate paid to us even though we've deducted it already from your quote and invoice.
We hope that we can return to the WA rebate when the enduring clauses on clients and conditions on retailers, have been removed.
The Federal Battery subsidy
This subsidy is much more valuable than the WA rebate and has no tricky fine-print.
The WA subsidy is capped at $1,300, the Federal subsidy to all intents, isn't.
You only get one chance at the subsidy claim, so consider that.
At time of writing the Federal subsidy is $344 per kWh of usable battery storage.
Therefore a 15kWh battery is discounted by $5,160 and a 30kWh battery by double that.
For installations completed in 2026 the subsidy will drop to $311 per kWh.
The 2 x STC jobs per day rule.
Accredited installers are only allowed to do 2 x STC jobs per day.
That's to stop the cowboys from getting up to the tricks that they used to get up to.
It was a great rule when STCs were only about solar panel installs.
Who could do more than two solar installs a day?
But with the Federal battery subsidy, batteries are also an STC claim.
So a solar and battery install uses up the two per day limit.
Even adding an extra battery and a couple of extra panels to an existing job, and the installer is done for the day.
It's ridiculous and needs to be changed.
SAA who run this have asked for member comment.
Fingers crossed that common sense will prevail soon with a rule change.
Just to be clear.
Solar4Ever fully supports the Federal battery subsidy.
We do not, at this time, support the WA battery rebate.
If Synergy delete the contentious contract clauses for customers and retailers, then we would happily rejoin.
Solar4Ever have been selling and installing solar in Perth, WA since 2011.
or email
This review was written by Andrew MacKeith, Solar4Ever service manager since 2011.