Solar 2.0: Labor’s bid to win voters with $2.3b battery offer

Homeowners who want to install a new battery to store solar power will be able to be given a hefty discount, while saving about $1000 a year. FULL DETAILS

Homeowners who want to install a new battery to store solar power will be able to save up to $4000 under a $2.3 billion Labor plan to reduce power bills and emissions.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday will reveal the Our Cheaper Home Batteries scheme, which will fund a 30 per cent discount on homeowners buying and installing new batteries to help store rooftop solar power.

The measure was funded but not announced in the recent budget and will run until 2030, after starting in July this year if Labor wins the election.

While the program is focused on homes, small business and community facilities including sports clubs will be eligible, depending on the size of the battery.

“This is good for power bills and good for the environment,” Mr Albanese said.

Labor claims the scheme will mean homes with existing rooftop solar will be able to save an extra $1,100 off their power bills a year.

“Labor’s number one priority is delivering cost of living relief. That’s why we want to make sure Australians have access to cheaper, cleaner energy.”

Energy Minister Chris Bowen claimed a Coalition election win would “risk” progress Labor had made in pushing renewable energy.

“The sun doesn’t always shine – but households and businesses having batteries means we can keep solar energy on tap and keep energy bills down consistently,” he said.

Labor claims the scheme will mean homes with existing rooftop solar will be able to save an extra $1,100 off their power bills a year, while new solar installations would save up to $2,300 – 90 per cent of a “typical” annual bill.

Homeowners who want to install a new battery to store solar power will be able to save up to $4000.

The announcement is the latest manoeuvre to win the election by addressing soaring cost of living issues, headlined by the blow out in energy prices Labor has tried to reel in by extending a $150 rebate until the end of the year.

It came as the Prime Minister faced questioning on Saturday over his fiscal responsibility, after the latest federal budget revealed a $35 billion net increase in net spending over the forward estimates.

Mr Albanese disputed figures put to him that his government in the last six months had made more than $70 billion of spending commitments, compared to just $2 billion of savings and re-prioritisation.

“This year we have almost halved the deficit that was anticipated. So we have been responsible,” he said, before taking aim at the Coalition’s previous record.

“In recent times, traditional Liberal budgets … over the nine budgets that they handed down, had massive deficits.”

Labor is also set to continue attacks on the Coalition’s energy scheme, releasing modelling claiming the opposition’s nuclear plan would cost up to $5.7 billion a year in interest payments over a decade.

The analysis is based off borrowings on a $600b cost for nuclear, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers claiming nuclear presents “the biggest risk to the Commonwealth budget”.

The Coalition says their energy plan will cost $331b and will be 44 per cent cheaper than Labor’s plan, with Peter Dutton saying earlier this week it would mean “reliable power, so we won’t get the blackouts and brownouts that Mr Albanese’s plan will be certain to deliver”.

Originally published as Solar 2.0: Labor’s bid to win voters with $2.3b battery offer