Two of them — the federal solar and battery rebates — are delivered through the same mechanism: Small-scale Technology Certificates, or STCs. These are tradable certificates that come off your quoted price upfront, so you experience them as a discount rather than a payment that lands later. The state schemes and feed-in tariffs, by contrast, depend heavily on where you live and which retailer you are with, and they change often — so confirm the current figure for your own state before you budget around it.
The federal solar rebate (STCs)
The original federal incentive applies to the panels themselves. Your system earns a number of STCs based on its size, your location, and how many years remain until the scheme winds up in 2030 — and your installer almost always claims them for you and discounts the price accordingly, so most homeowners never touch a certificate. The value steps down a little each year, which is why the same system costs marginally less to buy now than it will next January.
The federal battery rebate
The Cheaper Home Batteries Program, which began in July 2025, is the one that matters most for anyone adding storage. It runs through the same STC system as the solar rebate and is designed to take roughly 30% off the installed cost of an eligible battery between 5 kWh and 100 kWh. Since 1 May 2026 it has been tiered by size: the first 14 kWh of usable capacity earns the full rate, capacity from 14–28 kWh earns 60%, and 28–50 kWh earns 15% — so the support is concentrated on normal household-sized batteries. Like the solar rebate, it steps down over time (twice a year from 2027) and ends in 2030.
State rebates and incentives
On top of the federal layer, most states and territories run their own schemes — and this is where it gets patchy. Support ranges from interest-free loans (Victoria and the ACT) to battery and virtual power plant (VPP) incentives (NSW), while several older programs have already closed (Queensland’s Battery Booster, South Australia’s Home Battery Scheme). What you can claim depends entirely on your postcode, and these schemes open, change, and close far more often than the federal ones — so check what currently applies in your state before you count on it.
Feed-in tariffs
A feed-in tariff is what your retailer pays you for the solar power you send back to the grid, measured in cents per kilowatt-hour. It is the one item here that is an ongoing credit rather than an upfront discount — and it is no longer the headline it once was. A decade ago, rates of 44–60c/kWh made exporting highly profitable; in 2026 most sit between roughly 3c and 12c/kWh, set by your retailer rather than mandated (Victoria was the last state to drop its minimum, from July 2025). Because grid power costs around 25–40c/kWh, every unit of solar you use yourself is now worth far more than one you export — which is much of the reason batteries have taken off.
