‘Successful’: Battery subsidy scheme gets $5bn budget boost

Chris Bowen has pledged a $5 billion increase in the government’s battery subsidy program after revealing most of its $2.3 billion budget will be spent by the end of the year.

That’s a $5 billion increase from the program’s original $2.3 billion budget, which Mr. Bowen said will be exhausted by the end of the year.

The program was announced before the election and has been in place for about five months, allowing households and businesses to claim a 30 percent discount on the upfront cost of installing home batteries.

The initial budget was estimated to run until 2030, but Mr Bowen said the program would be completed due to strong interest in the one-off offer.

“A lot of people in the industry assumed that once the $2.3 billion was spent (the program) would end, which was never our intention,” he said.

“We consistently install 1,000 batteries per day each working day and slightly less on Saturdays, but we still install around 500 each Saturday and around 1,000 each working day.

Mr Bowen said 160,000 homes and businesses had accepted the offer and the budget increase would bring greater benefits to the community.

“We want more Australian households to have access to bills- and grid-friendly batteries – because it means cheaper, faster, safer solar power is available in our homes when and where it’s needed, day or night,” he said.

“Australia is a solar country; we have more solar energy on our rooftops than pools in our backyards, and we want to match that success with home batteries to reduce everyone’s bills.”