Federal government to expand household battery program to estimated $7 billion

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The federal government has announced a shake-up of its subsidy scheme which slashes the price of household batteries by about 30%. It comes amid claims most of the $2.3 billion for the scheme has been spent in just six months.

Transcript

00:00The federal government says it will expand its cheaper home batteries program to about

00:08$7 billion over four years. That's an increase of around $5 billion. The government estimates

00:16that this will see more than 2 million households and small businesses install a battery by 2030.

00:26Now, that represents a doubling of the initial estimated number that would install a battery.

00:35Now, this program was first announced ahead of the election earlier this year and it came into effect

00:41in July. And it means that households and small businesses can claim rebates off the upfront

00:48costs of batteries. However, industry insiders have said that poor design of this program has

00:57fueled a rush towards much bigger systems. Some experts say that this is mainly due to

01:05the rebate initially being per kilowatt hour rather than per battery. And so this means that installers

01:13had every incentive incentive to sell consumers the largest possible battery eligible under this

01:22scheme. And they say that this means much fewer people have been able to soak up a greater share

01:30of the money. And they've said that much of this budget has already been consumed, despite the

01:38government saying that it would last until 2030. Now, Energy Minister Chris Bowen has been out today

01:47talking about this expansion. And as well as that, he's also announced a shake up of the scheme.

01:55Let's take a listen to what he had to say.

01:58Today, I'm also announcing adjustments going forward to make sure the program continues to be fair

02:02and sustainable. And we've done this in close consultation with the industry. Firstly, in order

02:09to recognise the fairness of the battery rollout, we'll introduce a tiered model of support for battery

02:15size. 0 to 14 kilowatts an hour, sorry, 0 to 14 kilowatt hours, no change. 14 to 28 kilowatt hours,

02:23a step down in the certificate price, and then another step down, 28 to 50 kilowatt hours.

02:28So, Romy, are these changes expected to make this scheme more sustainable?

02:32Well, that certainly is the intention, Mel. That's what the government says is one of the

02:40reasons behind this expansion and these changes. But only time will tell whether or not that actually

02:46happens. The Energy Minister Chris Bowen in that press conference earlier acknowledged that

02:53most of the $2.3 billion initial budget would be used by next year. However, he says that this is

03:01because of the success of the program and how popular it's been. He says that it's been at the

03:08upper end of expectations and that that's a good thing. But some within the energy sector have raised

03:16concerns that by adding rules to a scheme like this, it could increase its complexity and that could lead

03:23to more people abusing the scheme. That was put to Chris Bowen earlier, but he rejected that assessment.

03:31He says that this program is managed very carefully. He says that it is accredited and deeply regulated.

03:41So, we will wait and see over the coming weeks and months how this scheme does change things and we'll keep across it, Mel.

03:53Let's ask better.

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