This page works through what solar saves on a typical Australian electricity bill — first on its own, then paired with a battery — with worked examples you can map onto your own situation. The figures are national ranges; your state’s electricity rate and feed-in tariff will move them, and we flag where.
The short answer
For most homes, a 6.6 kW solar system saves roughly $1,100 to $2,500 a year off the grid bill. Adding a battery typically lifts the total to somewhere between $2,000 and $3,500, depending mostly on how much power you use after dark.
| Setup | Typical annual bill saving | Biggest lever on the number |
|---|---|---|
| 6.6 kW solar only | $1,100 – $2,500 | How much power you use during daylight |
| 6.6 kW solar + 10 kWh battery | $2,000 – $3,500 | Your evening usage and feed-in rate |
The width of those ranges is the real story. Two households with the same hardware can land at opposite ends purely because of when they use electricity — which is what the rest of this page unpacks.
Where the savings actually come from
Solar cuts your bill in two ways, and they are worth very different amounts.
The first is self-consumption: every kilowatt-hour you use the instant it’s generated is one you don’t buy from the grid. In 2026 grid power costs most households around 30 to 40 cents per kWh, so each unit you self-consume is worth that full retail rate.
The second is export: power your panels make but you don’t use is sent to the grid, and your retailer pays you a feed-in tariff for it — these days typically 5 to 8 cents per kWh, and as low as 3c on some plans.
That gap is the whole game. A unit of solar you use yourself is worth five to eight times a unit you export. A decade ago, when feed-in tariffs ran 44 to 60 cents, exporting was where the money was; today it barely moves the needle, and the savings live almost entirely in self-consumption. It’s also the single biggest reason batteries have taken off. The feed-in tariffs guide covers how rates have fallen and what your retailer is likely paying now.
Solar on its own — a worked example
Take a 6.6 kW system, the most common residential size in Australia. Across the year it generates roughly 9,000 kWh — about 25 kWh on an average day, more in summer, less in winter. We’ll use a grid rate of 30c/kWh and a feed-in tariff of 5c/kWh.
A household that’s only partly occupied during the day might use about 35% of that solar directly:
Self-consumed: 3,150 kWh × 30c = $945 kept off the bill
Exported: 5,850 kWh × 5c = $293 in feed-in credits
Annual benefit ≈ $1,240
Now change one thing — when they use power. A household that’s home during the day, running the dishwasher, washing machine and hot water on solar, might self-consume 50%, lifting the benefit to around $1,575. Push that to 60% and it’s closer to $1,800. Same panels, same sun; the only variable is timing.
This is why a generic “solar saves you $X” headline is close to meaningless. Your saving is set by how much of your own generation you can absorb before it spills to the grid.
Adding a battery — a worked example
A battery doesn’t generate anything. What it does is shift your daytime surplus into the evening, so power you’d otherwise export at 5c gets used at home — instead of buying it back at 30c after sunset.
Take the same household and add a 10 kWh battery. Storing the excess typically pushes self-consumption from around 35% up to roughly 75%:
Self-consumed: 6,750 kWh × 30c = $2,025
Exported: 2,250 kWh × 5c = $113
Annual benefit ≈ $2,140
In this example the battery adds about $900 a year on top of the solar. But there’s a ceiling: a battery only saves you money to the extent you actually use what it stores. If your evening usage is modest, a larger battery sits half-empty and adds cost without adding saving — which is why sizing it to your real evening load matters far more than buying the biggest one on the quote. The cost guide covers how that extra annual saving stacks up against the battery’s price and warranty.
What moves your number
A handful of factors decide where you land in those ranges. Daytime occupancy is the biggest — a home with someone in it through the day self-consumes far more than an empty one. System size relative to your usage matters too: oversize the panels for a small household and most of the extra just gets exported at the low feed-in rate. Your tariff type plays a part — on a time-of-use plan, where evening power is dearest, a battery is worth more because it offsets your most expensive hours. And the two rates on your own bill — your usage charge and your feed-in tariff, both of which vary by state and retailer — set the value of every unit you keep and every unit you sell.
Work out your own number
You can get a rough figure straight off your latest bill in four steps. First, find your usage rate in cents per kWh and your feed-in tariff — both are printed on the bill. Second, estimate annual generation using a simple rule of thumb: about 4 kWh per day for every 1 kW of panels, so a 6.6 kW system makes roughly 9,000 to 9,500 kWh a year. Third, estimate the share you’d use during daylight — be honest about who’s actually home. Fourth, put it together:
Annual saving ≈ (solar you use yourself × your usage rate) + (solar you export × your feed-in tariff)
If you’re weighing up a battery, redo the first term assuming you self-consume 70–80% instead of 30–40%. The difference between the two answers is roughly what the battery is worth to you each year.
Saving isn't the same as payback
One distinction worth keeping clear: everything above is annual bill reduction, not the full investment case. Whether a system is “worth it” depends on weighing that yearly saving against what it costs to buy.
For solar alone the maths is usually comfortable — at these savings, a 6.6 kW system typically pays for itself in around three to six years and then runs largely free for another two decades. A battery is a tighter call: it adds less saving per dollar spent, and most battery warranties run about 10 years, so for some households the payback approaches the warranty mark. Feed-in tariffs are also still drifting down, which slowly erodes the value of exporting — though that only sharpens the case for self-consumption and storage.
For the full picture on prices, rebates and payback periods, see how much solar and batteries cost and the rebates and incentives guide.
