Government Solar Rebates: Still Worth It Despite the Reductions?

The government is quietly reducing solar rebates and a lot of homeowners are panicking that they've missed the boat.

It's easy to look at falling rebates and rising daily supply charges and wonder if the math on solar actually still works. But what most people don't realize is that every time the rebate

drops, the government usually introduces a new bill relief measures or 0% interest payment plans to offset it.

I'm Jason. And I'm Cam. We're the owners of Source Energy Group where we've designed and installed countless solar and battery systems for Australian homeowners. In

this episode, Ellen joins us to reveal what she is hearing on the ground during customer audits. We'll break down exactly what happens if the government funding changes, how the New South Wales

0% interest plan works, and answer if solar is still a smart financial move. Oh, battery rebates, solar rebates, are they ending? Are they finished? What's going on there? What are you hearing out

in the in the battlefield there, Ellen? Oh, the rebates.

Ah, it's a battle. It was a battle before May. Everybody was really really worried to lose on the big May drop.

They all thought it was ending, didn't they? Yeah.

Yeah. Like it was completely gone. Yeah. They thought that there was no incentive for re for batteries anymore.

Basically, they were like, "Oh, I thought I missed it." I know. I mean, if you needed 40 or 50, you missed the better part of it. But still exists.

Still haven't missed it. Yeah. Yeah. I think initially it was like 3.2 2 billion that they allocated for it, something like that. and then they

had to drop it down because of the amount of people getting 40 and 50 kilowatts like the actual So 50% of the allocated budget was gone in 6 months. That's what they why they

reduced it. It was 50%. Oh my god. Okay. I think a big reason why they did do the drop was a lot of people were getting undersized inverters

and undersized systems with the maximum size battery they could and just claming down on that rebate literally. Yeah. The amount of 50 kW batteries with 5 kW inverters that got

put in were just absurd. Yeah. Which doesn't do doesn't essentially got Yeah. battery wasting space on a wall there.

Most of those 5 kW inverters would have been ones that are only partially home backup and whatnot. it's not going to do a lot of use for you.

The ones that were doing all those were generally those cheaper ones we talked about in that battery episode where they take up like 3 and a half 4 meters of your of your wall of your dead wall as

you put it. Yep. Yep. Yes.

instead of like one of the high-end batteries which we talked about where it's a nice allin-one stack where space is minimal.

yeah, there's a lot of really big bulky units that were just being thrown up everywhere. Yeah, the rebate hasn't ended yet.

It is reducing though, isn't it? So, when's the next round? December.

December one is the next time the battery rebate reduces. Okay. I guess the biggest change since May, it was just a per kilowatt hour of battery and that was up to around the 50

kwatt hour. but now it's at the it's a stage based on the kilowatt hours. The bigger the battery you go, the rebate reduces. I just pulled it up. So yeah, we we have mentioned it before

just so anyone listening now can see, but it's 0 to 14 kilowatt, you get 100% of the full rebate. 15 to 28 kilwatt hours of battery, you get 60% of the full rebate. 29 to 50, you still get 15%

of the rebate. Over 50 kW, same as before, you get nothing. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So anyone that actually needs 40 to 50 kow battery and there's still people that actually need it.

No, they still get the the rebate. It's around $665,000 depending on which battery system and the actual usable kilowatt hours are.

U obviously when they released the budget it was a lot more than that was like 14 1/2 15 grand.

regardless 6 6 1/2 grand if that's the size battery you need still it's a big chunk.

Yeah. You know take it things I could buy with 6K but the how expensive makeup is for women. That's a selling point.

I I do not. Happy happy wife, happy happy life. You save six grand on your power bill or on a on a battery and your MS can go get her hair and her

nails done. You're going to be a lucky man. Just a point.

Can we go for a pub feed? Yeah, of course.

Yeah, go for a pub and go get the hair and nail done. Yeah. you know, that's that's just the batch of rebate.

obviously what else is following that? The solar rebate happens every year, doesn't it?

Yeah, there's a price reduction. January, is it?

January 1st. Yeah, it has been since my first day.

Yeah. And there's still rebates there. Like right now, if you get something installed before the 1st of December, you know, you can get the combined solar

and battery rebate together. If you're someone with a larger bill and needs the larger systems, you can still get well over $10,000 in combined rebates to go towards the installation.

Yeah. So, how's that actually work for the homeowner? It's a Wow. It's a huge discount.

It's a discount off the total price, isn't it? Off the total price. A lot of people do get confused over it, though.

They think they're going to get a paycheck or Well, yeah. I mean, the amount of people who inquire and then go, I thought it was free.

Yeah. Yeah. I wish I wish it was free. I wish I could give it to you for free.

But yeah, I mean, the products themselves are they're not cheap. It's your power supply. You know, they're expensive products. Everyone hears $6,000 off and they assume it's free.

But yeah, unfortunately, no. It takes a chunk off and it is paid to the company that installs the system or the installer.

Yeah. So essentially stuck up to this guy total price and then it's a discount off the final price to the homeowner essentially. but when the installers

install it, it obviously only an SIA installer can claim the rebate or the STC incentives to be the technical name.

small scale technology certificate. then obviously because that's been provided as a discount up front, they claim that and then yes, it goes directly to the installer.

Okay. Do you think people are getting a bit confused with the back to the they get the the money the rebate they're getting a bit confused with $0 upfront and the rebate that's a big

industry you got the two different avenues so you've got the rebate which we're talking about now that's the discount upfront discount

but you can also get solar and battery installed along with plenty of other things for $0 upfront and that's simply by financing So, I think that's where a lot

of the misconception when people think it's free because, you know, if you're paying $1,000 in power and you install a system for $20,000, and these are by no means the numbers,

they're just plain simple numbers. And if those repayments were $500 a month, well, you're now $400 a month in front until you pay that system out. And then

you're $1,000 in front after that, aren't you? That's only if your energy bill doesn't increase in that time.

Yeah. if you've got a sustain, I think that's where that is it free comes from. It's it's basically money people are already

spending. It's just been getting getting spent in a much smarter way. Yeah.

You're not going to not pay your power bill. You know, if you don't pay your power bill, you're not going to have light.

Yeah. Other than the sun, which is only there in the day. Another thing we're seeing heaps is every time they do this reduction in the in the rebate is the

government offers some form of bill relief afterwards. That that causes a massive massive sting in the industry or for the people installing it.

So interesting when all the smart meters got installed and everyone who had had like estimated bills for so long either found out that they had been overpaying or underpaying and I went out to so many

a lot of properties in Towa. Don't know why, but to whom real bad, they all were overpaying and they'd all been had a decrease, but they didn't get any sort of, oh, we've you overpaid, we've, you

know, reimburse you. No, no. But then the ones that were undercharged got a massive bill.

It's like, that brings it back to, you know, actually looking at the bill and not just the dollar value, you know, and also comes back to the whole packages,

seeing someone ring up and go, "Oh, I've got a $600 bill. Oh, you need this." M is that bill got a $200 subsidy applied to it? If that's the case, well, the system's undersized.

Yeah. Has it got an actual or an estimate, right? Yeah.

So, you got to look at the kilowatt hours and the usage to actually really understand it.

I mean, the overall bill as well includes GST. when you fixated on the dollar figure, you're never actually really going to work out what you need because you're so

obsessed with how much it's costing. It's like, well, why is it costing that? Yeah.

When it comes back to that bill relief they release cuz it's they do it all the time. It just gives that false warm and fuzzy that, oh, it's credit and then their bill is twice as

big as their last one and half that credit gets taken up the next bill that comes out.

Exactly. Yeah. What do they do every time they give you It wasn't their one. They gave nearly a thousand bucks or something towards every homeowner's bill. But then

people had to creep back off that. But who's paying for that thousand bucks that they're going to give every homeowner?

Just every person next. Yeah. They just give the inch and take the mile.

Yeah. Well, there is a real which I'm not sure if you if you seen it, but there's a guy talking about, you know, his usage last year was more than his usage this

year. Yeah. But his bill was more expensive.

Yeah. Yeah. So he I don't know if he was penny pinching and trying to save and not doing things but either way his usage was less but his bills far higher.

What do you think happens when the government funding changes? Like say for example labor have been the massive push in renewable energy and solar and rooftops and whatnot.

Well that's where the battery rebate come from. Yeah. Exactly. And thank you for that.

They gave us a lot of work. But in saying that, what happens if the government changes?

Are we still going to have any sort of Don't get me started with the government.

Yeah, we won't go political. We won't go that far. No. Well, the end of the day, like the thing is like there is so much emphasis on the rebate.

Yeah. And people should go solar and battery for the rebate.

But the end of the day, it's kind of like you shouldn't do anything based on just a tax thing only when you're looking with your money. This is all your money. you shouldn't do anything a

decision solely based on the rebate. Does it make sense to go solar and battery? If it makes sense, the rebate is just a bonus. It's an extra benefit you get out of it essentially

cuz your energy bills go nowhere. I don't even think I talk about it anymore because it's pointless. I mean, you the only time it ever really is worth talking to is when you've got

someone who's still on the 44 cents or the 51 cents. They've only got two years left of that. Most of the time they confuse the rebate with the feeding tariff.

Exactly. Literally. They're like, "Oh, but I'm going to lose my rebate." I'm like, "No, that's your tariff." So, some of them are still on that. And if they obviously go any bigger, then

they lose it automatically. But they can choose to keep the same size and keep the higher tariff, which I, you know, no, there's no point. And a lot of them do go, "Oh, but then I'm going to lose

this." I'm like, "Yeah, but even if you had more solar, you'd lose it anyway." and this isn't covering you. The amount of bills that I looked at just in the last two weeks, I can honestly say

everybody right now is getting the your bills are changing. Everyone's 2 cents. They're all going down to two cents export. It's there's no point. Store it and save

yourself 40 cents. So on those ones that still have the 44 cent feed in tariff here in Queensland, are you?

No. No. I'm saying on those ones that still have it. they were the early adapters that got that when it come out and they seem to benefit.

Mhm. and that runs out regardless in 20128 and do you know what they all do now?

They kick themselves that they only got a small system back then. Yeah. So that's so right now like they can either wait to 2028 and do something because they're still getting 44 cents

from a tiny little 4 kW system or whatever they got on their roof or they take advantage now and size up with a proper battery, proper system.

sure they're going to lose that 44 cents for the next year and a half, but they might stay in. They're going to be in a much better position cuz Yeah. They'll lose that 44 cents for the

next year and a half, but they're going to gain on the battery and solar like BV rooftop rebate now.

Yeah. Which is way outweighs 44 cents in my book anyway. Yeah. 100%.

That's what they're charging you per kilowatt at night on average now anyway. Yeah.

and that's, you know, brings us on to the supply charge. Like if they stick that time period out to keep the 44 cents, sure that's going to be fine. and it might be covering their supply charge

at the moment. If they haven't got a big bill, if they got a big bill, I can guarantee it's still showing its face.

Even little bills now, I'm just seeing nothing from them. Like, there's no point.

it's just not going to cover it. So those guys taking action now getting you know up to 6 a half thousand for the battery and you know probably over 10,000 with combined battery and solar

upgrading now they're in a position where they can potentially do something to offset that supply charge aren't they? Depending on where they live and who their retailers are if they have

access to the VPP or not. So yeah and the supply charges are just going up. It's funny all of the rates that are changing. You either see that their, you know, their daily supply is

going down, but then all the rates are going up or the rates are going up and the supply charge has gone down. It's like what you were just saying before, you know, they give an inch and then

they take a mile because it's deducted here. It's just been added on somewhere else. That's what happened at my place and we spoke about it on another episode, but yeah, my I think it was

my usage charge that went down and my daily supply charge went up massively and that was only after I got solar.

It was 30 cents. Yeah, 30 cents up. Yeah, just over. But all because I got the solar and the solar meter put on. They've they pumped it up the on like show on the other foot

that you were saying the ones that their price is actually going down. the usage oh sorry the daily supply charge but the usage charge is going up they probably don't have solar

so they're just finding the way they can get the money out of them actually there's always always the things to look out for but yeah

biggest thing customers can do I suppose is shop around always shop around yeah I mean I used to see it a lot I worked quite heavily in hail damage and

roof claims and things like that so I saw a lot of solar claims names as well from mainly hail damage. But a lot of people I spoke to were elderly who were now having an insurance company replace

their system. And I would speak to them about okay so are you if you know we can replace it with like for like or and you come you know your insurance have paid this much or you can pay a little

bit additional and I can actually cover your bill now. and it was actually quite difficult explaining to anybody on that tariff because they're usually a little bit older now. but it was

quite quite difficult explaining to them that it didn't matter that they were going to lose the tariff because they were going to sorry their, you know, feeding tariff because they were going

to start saving in the actual usage. so a lot of people that I spoke to or saw they would have the same size be replaced.

Yeah. just to keep that little tariff that and honestly it's been like everyone holds on to the tiniest little thing and misses out on the opportunity

they could have just cuz of one little thing. That's it. And yeah, the if you're swapping out for the same size, it's only ever really going to be or they put

up 24 panels back in the day was a 6.6 kW system. Nobody's got a 44cent tariff with 6.6 panels on the roof. It's always like 10 panels, 12 panels, something like that

fed directly back to the grid. Yeah. I think it's a human nature thing as well. People are like so fixated on what they want that they forget that what they want might not be what they need.

Yeah. And and the industry thing too cuz the industry doesn't have the best name. So like people everyone thinks Sol is a scam.

Yeah. Exactly. Because if they didn't get the right size, it was ask Jamie.

Yeah. That's Jamie. It's a scam. It does. Like I mean, you know, you pay an X amount of money, they put it up, and then they don't see the return they thought they were going to get. They

call scam. And a lot of them did, but that just comes down to what we were talking about in the last episode.

It was just not having the right assessment. Yeah.

Coming back to the rebates, I guess. So, you've got the federal solar rebate, you got the federal battery rebate, which are both the small scale technology certificates or STC incentives.

Mhm. There is state base. Each state has their own little incentives that you can look into. But what you find with those state based ones. They're ones that the

homeowner themselves has to actually do it. So the installer doesn't do it. So there is extra paperwork and some of them depending on which it is. Some of them won't let you

claim it if you got the federal. Other ones will let you claim both and so on. so that's why you see most installers will just do all the federal ones. if there's a state one, they generally can

help you along the way for a state one. but they are state by state and the state ones are usually a lot smaller.

Whereas the federal the federal one is the one that's here till 2030. It is battery every 6 months reduces. Solar reduces every year. So end of story.

It's the longer you wait, the more it's going to cost. Yeah.

The fact that it went from 3.2 to bill if it went down 50% in that first year. That's just not sure on the original figure.

No, I don't know. I'm pretty sure I know 100% it was 50% within 6 months and that's what caused the the change.

It was maybe it might have been 50% of the initial funding they put towards it. It went too quick and they were supposed to last out the whole I think the whole first year. M

but yeah, what they've done now though is everyone's they're only going to sell what they can get maximum rebate for instead of actually design the system properly. So now you're going to end up

with so many homes. I've noticed all the ads now, so many homes with small batteries, which might be fine for small usage

homes, but the ones that actually need it, you'll probably find a lot of people are going to get under sold because the people selling it are scared they're not

going to get the sale because the price is too much. I do I do think that's where they've gone wrong bringing out this new model of the rebate cuz it's a double-edged

sword. So yes, the homes that needed are getting the right size batteries, but yeah, the ones that are going over massive like that's they're going to get hit in the pocket the hardest.

I believe it should have gone on a home size in a percentage sort of thing.

Yeah. Or some kind of check to prove that they actually need the battery. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. A usage Yeah.

a usage chart sort of thing, which maybe they did go back off a usage side of things, but I believe it was just rushed out to change it.

Yeah, it was quite quickly. How do we put the brakes on? Yeah, that's it.

Source Energy starting a political party now. Definitely not.

Cam's running. Cam for president. Yeah.

Hate that. Cam state senator. Solar senator.

we have been talking about the rebates. Now there is grid tide solar and offgrid solar isn't there? Which are two different things. Now, we talk about

getting the homeowners to break free from the grid. We're talking about generally or most of the time they're still grid tied. In other words, it's a home that's connected to the the power

supply, which is why you pay that supply charge. now, people in the rural areas that are self-sufficient or want to go self-sufficient,

can they still claim this rebate? Yeah, you definitely can. 100% they can. Can they? It's actually up to still the the battery rebate stays the same. However, your PV say your

rooftop per lot number is what you can claim on a property and it's up to 99 kW of battery.

sorry of solar not of battery. Yeah. Yeah. So this is where the 50 kW of battery 50 kowit

adjustment in the battery rebate is now anyone that was in a position or actually was off grid it helped them out quite well. M now it's just back to normal for them

cuz they need obviously a lot more batteries than a grid tide system does. Yeah, they usually as well out out there they have more they go with better equipment like ours

because you can attach generators to it, stuff like that. The cheaper products and the you know all of those unknown brands or unnamed brands, you can't really prepare them for off-grid.

Yeah. But I mean it's ideal to stay connected to the grid as a worst case scenario for a backup obviously, but if you can be fully self-sufficient or look at homes up north like

northwest Queensland and they're on a swirl line and they they used to be 10 kW 10 kow PV inverter per phase.

you weren't allowed to imbalance phases but now they've dropped it down to five. Most of those places on swirl lines of properties farms and they've got a lot of usage in pumping like

just pure power usage. Yeah. Machine sheds machine and like that that doesn't help them at all just having 5 kW and that's it max across the whole property

on that SW line. So offrids off grid's the solution for them and they might not know that they they are able to get the the rebate for an offrid solution.

It's just more work for you. Yeah, literally. Yeah. that you just have to go through more to prove that it was installed on that lot and

raise awareness for it. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Come to us. We got you.

The thing with the off-grid or the rural properties and them being so far out is it doesn't make sense for them to stay grid tied anyway because they don't get rebates. They're usually so far away

from a Green Boy that the voltage drop by the time it would export it, they won't actually even let them. You mean feed and tariff?

Yeah. What did I say? Feed and tariff rebate. See, there I go.

It's very easy to get the two confused. Oh, yeah. See, even we can do it.

I'm going to say we as if it wasn't me. but no, I've noticed that as well. Like a lot of them are like, "Oh, but then we won't get credits." I'm like, "You guys have not had credits on your

bill in your last like year because you can't export." It's Yeah. the distance away. They don't

let them have the They probably got when they got it installed, they probably got sold on that.

Yeah. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. Yeah. When should people get the rebate?

ASAP. Stop waiting. You sound like a broken record really. It's just like, yes, we're in the business of solar, but

if it is, if you are a homeowner and you're generally looking to reduce the power bill, there's no better time than now. Simple as that.

said it before, if you're handing your money to the power company, you're just burning it.

It's not a matter of if you're going to get solar, it's when because it's the way the world is going. And if you don't do it now, you're just going to pay way more for it later. Yeah.