From battery rebates to renewable targets, government policy is reshaping Australia's energy landscape. Here's what's currently in play.
Stats updated: 2026-04-19
The universal federal Energy Bill Relief Fund, which provided up to $150 for households and small businesses in the 2025-26 financial year, concluded on 31 December 2025. While broad, automatic relief has ended for most, targeted state-based hardship grants and concessions remain active for vulnerable households and eligible concession card holders in states like NSW and Victoria. For example, NSW offers a Low Income Household Rebate of up to $285 for retail customers with eligible concession cards.
The federal Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) continues to provide an upfront discount on solar panel installations in 2026, though the deeming period for Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs) reduced on 1 January 2026, resulting in a 15-20% smaller discount compared to late 2025. For solar batteries, the federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program offers a discount, which is approximately $311 per usable kWh (capped at 50 kWh usable) before 1 May 2026. From 1 May 2026, this rebate will become tiered and reduce, with the first 14 kWh receiving 100% of the STC factor, 14-28 kWh receiving 60%, and 28-50 kWh receiving 15%. State-specific incentives also apply, such as Victoria's Solar Panel (PV) Rebate of up to $1,400 for eligible homeowners and interest-free loans, and NSW's Virtual Power Plant (VPP) incentive which can offer up to $372 per usable kWh for eligible batteries connected to a VPP.
Australia is actively pursuing a federal target of 82% renewable electricity generation for the National Electricity Market (NEM) by 2030, with renewables supplying approximately 50% of all power in the NEM in the final quarter of 2025. The Australian Government's Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) aims to allocate an indicative target of 6 GW of renewable energy generation across the NEM in 2026. The Renewable Energy Target (RET) sets a constant annual target of 33,000,000 MWh of additional renewable electricity generation until 2030. Significant investments in energy storage, such as the $200 million Brendale battery in Queensland, are set to commence operations in 2026 to support this transition.
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