Work out if a home battery is actually worth it for you
A solar battery can slash your evening power bill — or take a decade to pay for itself. EnergySorted uses your real usage and export data to size the battery, value the savings honestly, and factor the 2026 federal battery rebate before you spend a cent.
✓ Honest payback maths — we tell you when it won't pay
Typical battery payback
~7–12 yrs
Varies widely with usage, solar export, rebate and plan — some households never break even.
Home batteries are having a moment in Australia — cheaper hardware, a new federal rebate, and power bills that spike hardest in the evening peak. But a battery is still a big spend, and whether it pays off depends almost entirely on your own numbers: how much solar you export, how much power you burn after sunset, and the gap between your feed-in tariff and your peak buy-back rate. EnergySorted works that out from a real bill instead of a glossy quote.
Home battery
How to tell if a battery will pay for itself
The maths that actually decides it: arbitrage
A battery makes money by storing cheap energy and using it instead of expensive energy. In practice that means charging from your solar during the day — power you'd otherwise export for a small feed-in tariff — and discharging it in the evening peak when grid electricity is dearest.
The saving per stored kilowatt-hour is roughly your peak buy-back rate minus your feed-in tariff. If you export at 5c/kWh and buy back at 35c/kWh, every kWh the battery shifts is worth about 30c. If your feed-in is high and your peak rate is low, that gap shrinks and the case weakens. EnergySorted values this arbitrage against your actual plan rates, not a national average.
Size it to your home, not the biggest box on the shelf
Over-sizing is the most common way to wreck a battery's payback. A battery that's bigger than your nightly usage sits half-empty, so you've paid for capacity you never cycle. Too small and you're still buying peak power after it's flat.
The right size sits close to your typical evening-and-overnight consumption, capped by how much surplus solar you actually have to charge it. We read both from your bill and interval data — see how to size a battery — and recommend a capacity band rather than pushing the largest unit.
The 2026 federal battery rebate
The federal government's Cheaper Home Batteries program (from 1 July 2025, running into 2026) discounts the up-front cost of an eligible battery through small-scale certificates, and it stacks with some state incentives. The subsidy per kilowatt-hour steps down over time, so the exact dollar figure depends on when you install and the battery size.
EnergySorted factors an estimate of the current rebate into your payback figure — but always confirm the live amount and eligibility rules, as they change. See our 2026 battery rebate explainer for the current details.
The right plan can matter as much as the battery
Once you have a battery, the best electricity plan often changes. Time-of-use plans with a cheap overnight or midday window let a battery arbitrage harder, and some retailers offer battery- or VPP-friendly tariffs and sign-up credits. A Virtual Power Plant (VPP) can pay you to export stored energy at peak demand — real money, but it cycles your battery more and can affect the warranty.
We compare 16,000+ plans with no commissions (about $39/yr), flag the battery- and VPP-ready ones, and show what each does to your bill so the plan and the hardware work together rather than against each other.
When a battery is NOT worth it
We'll say it plainly: batteries don't always pay. If your evening usage is low, your feed-in tariff is already generous, your peak rates are modest, or you're likely to move house before the payback lands, the numbers may never add up on savings alone.
Plenty of people still buy one for blackout backup, energy independence, or to use more of their own clean power — all valid, but those are lifestyle reasons, not financial ones. EnergySorted separates the two so you decide with clear eyes instead of a sales pitch.
Before you sign a battery quote
See your real payback in minutes
Upload one power bill and EnergySorted sizes the battery to your usage, values the day-to-night arbitrage on your actual rates, factors the 2026 federal rebate, and checks it against 16,000+ plans. If it won't pay for itself, we'll tell you that too.
Payback is the up-front cost (after rebates) divided by your yearly saving. The saving comes mostly from arbitrage — storing solar you'd have exported cheaply and using it in the expensive evening peak — so it hinges on the gap between your feed-in tariff and your peak buy-back rate, plus how much you can cycle the battery each day. Typical Australian paybacks land around 7–12 years, but some households break even faster and others never do.
How big a battery do I need?
As a rule of thumb, aim to cover your evening-and-overnight usage, capped by how much surplus solar you have to charge it with. Most homes land somewhere around 8–14 kWh, but the honest answer is specific to your bill. Over-sizing hurts payback because unused capacity never earns its keep. EnergySorted reads your usage pattern and recommends a capacity band rather than upselling the biggest unit.
What is the 2026 federal battery rebate?
The federal Cheaper Home Batteries program discounts an eligible battery's up-front cost via small-scale certificates and can stack with some state schemes. The per-kWh subsidy steps down over time, so the dollar value depends on your battery size and install date. We factor a current estimate into your payback figure, but always confirm the live amount and eligibility — the rules change.
Will a home battery keep the lights on in a blackout?
Only if it's configured for backup. Many standard installs shut down during a grid outage for safety, unless you pay for a backup circuit or gateway that islands your home. If blackout protection is a priority, ask the installer specifically for it and expect to fit it to essential circuits rather than the whole house.
Do I need solar to make a battery worthwhile?
Usually, yes. Without solar you can only arbitrage a time-of-use plan — charging from a cheap overnight or midday window and using it in peak — which earns far less than charging from free solar export. A battery paired with solar almost always stacks up better. If you don't have panels yet, look at solar first and size the two together.
How is EnergySorted different from a battery installer's quote?
Installers earn on hardware, so quotes tend toward bigger batteries and optimistic savings. EnergySorted takes no commissions (about $39/yr), sizes the battery to your real export and evening usage, values the arbitrage on your actual plan rates, factors the rebate, and compares 16,000+ plans including battery- and VPP-friendly ones. We'll happily tell you a battery isn't worth it.
Buy the right battery, or none at all
A battery is worth it when your own numbers say so — not when a brochure does. EnergySorted turns one power bill into an honest payback figure, a sensible size, and the best plan to run it on, so you spend thousands with confidence instead of hope.