Federal battery subsidy scheme set for $5 billion shake-up

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Australian households rushing to take advantage of a government scheme, which makes home batteries cheaper, have almost drained its multibillion-dollar budget in just a matter of months. An extra $5 billion will now be pumped into the program to make it fairer and available for years to come.

Transcript

00:00The Energy Minister admiring the latest in household battery technology.

00:07They're looking sleek these days.

00:09While expanding the government scheme designed to make them cheaper.

00:13Australians are taking up this program with enormous, enormous enthusiasm.

00:17An additional $5 billion will be spent on the scheme over four years,

00:22taking the total investment to $7.2 billion.

00:25The move is set to double the number of households and small businesses

00:28initially forecast to install a battery by 2030 to $2 million.

00:33We are managing a program of success and strength.

00:37The policy was announced ahead of this year's election and came into effect in July.

00:41It aimed to slash the purchase price of a battery by about 30%.

00:46It's a one-time rebate but it delivers savings to electricity customers every single quarter.

00:53But industry insiders claim the initial program design has encouraged people

00:57to install bigger systems which quickly drained the budget.

01:00Some battery manufacturers and some of the cheaper installers

01:04could deliver 50 kilowatt hours of battery for the same price as 10 kilowatt hours of battery.

01:09The government announcing it will now introduce a tiered system

01:12so support will be staggered in line with battery size.

01:16We do want to make sure that if you are installing batteries in your home

01:20that it's not coming at the expense of other taxpayers who simply can't afford

01:24to put a solar panel on their roof, let alone a battery on their home.

01:28Experts who raised concerns about the program's rollout have welcomed today's announcement.

01:34They're hopeful the overhaul will put it on the right track.

01:37But the Energy Minister has rejected suggestions there were flaws in the first place.

01:42It's true that it's been at the upper end of our expectations,

01:45even more successful than we hoped and that's a good thing.

01:48The scheme changes take effect from May next year.

01:51Thanks to y'all.

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