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Explore the latest developments concerning The battery rebate.

The battery rebate became a victim of its success. Here's what is changing

In less than nine months, Australian households have installed more than 266,000 home batteries. (ABC News: Briana Shepherd)

Changes to home battery rebates coming into effect today aim to ensure the scheme does not risk becoming a victim of its own success.

Australians took to batteries in droves after the federal government introduced the Cheaper Home Batteries Program in last year's budget.

In less than a year, Australia's residential battery capacity doubled. More than a quarter of a million units were installed across the country in the first nine months, adding around 7.7 gigawatt-hours of storage.

That's equivalent to about 40 of the big batteries Elon Musk built in South Australia.

Homeowners to lose thousands as popular solar battery rebate is cut

Australians keen to embrace rooftop solar and battery storage are facing significant changes to federal government incentives, with a popular rebate scheme undergoing a major overhaul from today.

The move, aimed at reining in ballooning costs and promoting more appropriate system sizing, will see many homeowners receive thousands less than previously available.

The federal government’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program, designed to slash the upfront cost of a home battery by around 30 per cent (averaging a $4000 saving), has proven so popular that its expenditure ran well ahead of projections.

The unexpected demand, particularly for larger systems, has prompted a “correction” to ensure the rebates can stretch further across more households.

$10k per household: Iran crisis adds fuel to battery subsidy fire

Steep power prices and fuel costs are stoking new demand for Labor’s home battery subsidy and putting pressure on its $7.2 billion budget, as consumers shrug off looming changes to the scheme’s rules and continue to pile into the popular energy-saving tech.

The government has spent more than $3.3 billion subsidising nearly 360,000 batteries since the rebate policy came into effect on July 1 last year, at an average cost to the taxpayer of almost $10,000 per battery, according to The Australian Financial Review’s analysis of Clean Energy Regulator data.

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