Canberra households get the federal Cheaper Home Batteries discount, plus access to an ACT low-interest loan of up to $20,000. The loan is useful, but it is financing, not a rebate, so we do not add it to your estimate.
Scheme factors last reviewed
Most popular home batteries are 10 to 15 kWh usable. Check your battery's datasheet for the usable (not nominal) capacity.
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We will send your personalised estimate summary plus a plain-English checklist of what you need to be eligible for the CHBP in 2026.
Since 1 March 2026 the Clean Energy Regulator requires geotagged, timestamped photos of battery labelling and serial numbers on every STC claim, and uses automated checks to reject the ones that fall short. NSW installs move to the mandatory CER (Consumer Energy Resources) Installer Portal from mid-2026 with CSIP-AUS backstop-enabled inverters, and solar panels not certified to IEC 61730:2023 came off the approved list on 1 May. Get the free one-page checklist covering all three, plus CEC approved-product, SAA accreditation, STC assignment and DNSP notification.
One discount and one loan apply in the ACT:
| Federal CHBP discount | 6.8 STCs per usable kWh for the first 14 kWh, applied by your installer as a point-of-sale discount. Roughly $250 per usable kWh at current certificate prices. |
| ACT Sustainable Household Scheme | Low-interest (3%) loan of $2,000 to $20,000, repaid over up to ten years. From 1 July 2026 the cap rose from $15,000 and the loans are no longer interest-free, except for eligible concession card holders under the Home Energy Support Program. Financing, not a discount, so excluded from the estimate above. |
The ACT Sustainable Household Scheme offers eligible households low-interest loans of $2,000 to $20,000 for energy upgrades including batteries, repaid over up to ten years. The terms changed on 1 July 2026: the cap rose from $15,000 to $20,000 and the rate moved from zero to 3%. Zero-interest survives only for eligible concession card holders, through the Home Energy Support Program, up to $10,000. Low interest is still a real benefit against a commercial loan.
It is still not a discount. The purchase price of the battery does not change. Calculators that fold the loan into a headline rebate figure are overstating what you save, and we will not do it. If you want the loan, apply through the scheme directly, and treat it as a separate decision to what the battery costs.
The federal discount does reduce the price. Your installer applies it at point of sale through a registered agent, so it comes off the invoice before you pay.
Your network operator is Evoenergy. Your installer handles the connection notification.
We apply STC zone 4 (rating 1.185) for the ACT, which is the conservative reading. This affects the solar panel portion of an estimate only.
See every factor behind these numbers, including the certificate price we assume and what we deliberately do not model.