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The federal solar rebate does not end on 1 January 2027. It steps down each January, and each July as well for batteries, and it keeps stepping down until the scheme closes at the end of 2030. On that date the deeming period for solar panels drops from five years to four, and the certificate factor for batteries drops from 6.8 to 5.7 per kilowatt-hour of usable capacity. Nothing on the WA side moves: the WA rebate, the WA no-interest loan and Synergy Battery Rewards have no change scheduled. The rate is set by the installation date, so signing earlier does not hold it. Figures below are as at 25 September 2026.
The federal certificate rates for panels and for batteries both drop on the date, while the WA side stays exactly as it is. An STC is a small-scale technology certificate. The regulator credits each solar system with a number of years of generation, its deeming period. A battery's usable capacity is the energy it can deliver, which can be lower than the nominal figure on its label because some batteries hold part of their capacity in reserve.
| Installed 1 May to 31 December 2026 | Installed from 1 January 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| Federal solar certificates (STCs) for panels | 5-year deeming period | 4-year deeming period, 20% fewer certificates for the same system |
| Federal battery certificates | 6.8 certificates per usable kWh | 5.7 per usable kWh to 30 June 2027, then 5.2 from 1 July 2027 |
| Capacity taper on battery certificates | Full rate to 14 kWh, 60% from 14 to 28 kWh, 15% from 28 to 50 kWh | Unchanged |
| WA Residential Battery Scheme rebate | Up to $1,300 for Synergy customers, paid on usable capacity from a 5.0 kWh minimum, on the first 10.0 kWh | Unchanged. No step is scheduled. The scheme runs until 100,000 rebates have been paid. As at December 2025 Energy Policy WA expected it to be available until 2027 |
| WA no-interest loan | $2,001 to $10,000, 3 to 10 years, household income under $210,000 | Unchanged |
| Synergy Battery Rewards | Condition of the WA rebate, two-year initial agreement | No change published |
| WA connection rules | In force since 1 May 2026 | Unchanged |
| Which date counts | Installation date | Installation date |
At the end of 2030, when the federal Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme closes. That is the scheme behind the phrase "solar rebate", and what most people call the rebate is a set of STCs. Each certificate stands for one megawatt-hour of renewable electricity that an eligible system generates, stores or displaces. Your installer usually claims them and takes their market value off the price up front.
For solar panels, the number of certificates depends on the size of the system, the solar zone of the postcode, and the deeming period, counted from the installation year to the end of the scheme. It falls by one year every 1 January:
| Year the system is installed | Deeming period |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 5 years |
| 2027 | 4 years |
| 2028 | 3 years |
| 2029 | 2 years |
| 2030 | 1 year |
The deeming period drops from five years to four, which is a 20% cut in certificates for the same panels on the same roof.
Perth postcodes sit in solar zone 3, with a zone rating of 1.382. A 6.6 kW system installed in 2026 earns 6.6 multiplied by 1.382 multiplied by 5, which is 45 certificates once the fraction is dropped. The same panels installed in 2027 earn 36. At $39.90 a certificate that is $1,796 against $1,436, a difference of about $360 on the same system.
Your installer's registered agent sets the certificate price on your quote. The regulator's Clearing House price is fixed at $40 excluding GST, and the open market usually trades a little under it, so the dollar figure on a quote will differ from these while the 20% gap between the two years holds.
The certificate factor drops from 6.8 to 5.7 per usable kilowatt-hour, about 16% fewer certificates, and it drops again to 5.2 on 1 July 2027. For a battery the regulator publishes a certificate factor for each half-year in place of a deeming period, and the count is the battery's usable capacity in kilowatt-hours multiplied by that factor. The WA rebate and the federal certificates are both worked out on usable capacity.
A battery installed between 1 May and 31 December 2026 gets the 6.8 factor. The capacity taper that has applied since 1 May 2026 does not change: the full factor applies to the first 14 kWh, 60% of it to each kilowatt-hour from 14 to 28, and 15% to each from 28 to 50.
Here is a 10.0 kWh usable battery in a Perth home, on a Synergy account, installed in December 2026 and again in January 2027.
| Installed December 2026 | Installed January 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate factor | 6.8 per usable kWh | 5.7 per usable kWh |
| Certificates | 68 | 57 |
| Value at $39.90 each | $2,713 | $2,274 |
| WA Residential Battery Scheme rebate | $1,300 | $1,300 |
| Combined off the installed price | $4,013 | $3,574 |
| Difference | $439 |
That battery sits inside the 14 kWh full-rate band, so the taper does not touch it. A 5.0 kWh battery sees roughly half those figures on the federal side and, on the same per-kilowatt-hour arithmetic, $650 on the WA side. For any other size the arithmetic is the same, and the STC timing calculator does it for you. The full schedule of half-year factors out to 2030 is on the federal battery certificates page.
Everything on the WA side. The WA Residential Battery Scheme pays up to $1,300 to Synergy customers, worked out on usable capacity at $130 for each kilowatt-hour, from a 5.0 kWh minimum up to the first 10.0 kWh. A 10.0 kWh battery reaches the cap; a larger battery still gets $1,300 on its first 10.0 kWh. The money goes to the accredited vendor and comes off your invoice. No step-down is scheduled. The scheme runs until 100,000 rebates have been distributed, and as at December 2025 Energy Policy WA expected it to be available until 2027.
The no-interest loan through the scheme is unchanged as well: $2,001 to $10,000 over three to 10 years, for households with gross income under $210,000, with no early repayment fee and a capped late fee.
Joining a virtual power plant remains a condition of the WA rebate and loan. For a Synergy customer that is Synergy Battery Rewards, an agreement with a two-year initial term that pays 70 cents for each kilowatt-hour your battery exports during an activation event. No change to its terms has been published for 1 January 2027. The battery has to pair with an inverter listed under DER-Storage, the battery storage category of Synergy's Supported Solutions List, which Synergy Supported Solutions List explained walks through. The product side is covered in which batteries qualify for the WA rebate.
WA connection rules from 1 May 2026 also stay as they are. They are already in force for any system installed now, and nothing about them moves on 1 January.
The installation date. The regulator applies the deeming period and the battery factor from the date the system is installed, and it monitors installation dates to make sure the correct period is applied. Your installer or their registered agent then creates the certificates within 12 months of that date. The installation has to be completed on or before 31 December 2026 for the 2026 rate to apply, whatever date the contract or deposit carries.
Put the installation date in the contract, with what happens to the price if the installer misses it. A signed quote becomes an installed battery only after Western Power's connection approval and a slot in the installer's calendar. Western Power says most applications get preliminary approval to install within 15 business days. Installer calendars are less predictable, and demand is high: the regulator's data shows 304,177 battery systems installed across Australia in the first eight months of 2026, against 206,772 in the six months after batteries joined the scheme on 1 July 2025. The battery installation timeline walks through each step between a signed quote and a working battery, and rebate timelines and queues explains what stretches those steps out in WA.
If the eligible system you want can be installed in 2026, the higher rate applies. If it cannot, the cost of the delay is $439 on a 10.0 kWh battery and about $360 on a 6.6 kW solar system, smaller in each case than the $1,300 WA rebate.
A battery installed in a hurry with an inverter that is not on Synergy's DER-Storage list, or without Battery Rewards enrolment, forfeits $1,300 and the loan. That is more than the federal step costs. Oversizing costs too: capacity beyond what the household can cycle each day is paid for and left idle, and any usable capacity above 14 kWh earns certificates at 60% of the factor, dropping to 15% between 28 and 50 kWh, with nothing earned above 50 kWh. Energy Policy WA's guidance is that with 100,000 rebates available, households can take the time to work out which system suits them.
Confirm the product and inverter against Synergy's list and the WA rebate eligibility checklist first, then size the battery to the loads you run after dark, and only then ask for a firm installation date. Whether the federal and WA money both apply on one battery depends on conditions the worked stacking examples set out.
Does the solar rebate end in 2027? No. The scheme runs to the end of 2030. The 2027 change is a step: five to four deeming years for panels, and 6.8 to 5.7 per usable kilowatt-hour for batteries, with the next steps on 1 July 2027 for batteries and 1 January 2028 for both.
Does the WA battery rebate change on 1 January 2027? No change is scheduled. The rebate stays at up to $1,300 for Synergy customers on the first 10.0 kWh of usable capacity, with a 5.0 kWh minimum and the loan alongside it, until 100,000 rebates have been distributed, which Energy Policy WA expected in December 2025 to keep it available until 2027.
If I sign a contract in December 2026, do I get the 2026 rate? Only if the system is installed by 31 December 2026. The regulator sets the rate by the installation date, and a contract, deposit or booking does not fix it.
What happens on 1 July 2027? The battery certificate factor steps again, from 5.7 to 5.2 per usable kilowatt-hour. Solar panel certificates do not change on 1 July; their next step is 1 January 2028, when the deeming period falls to three years.
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Synergy customers get $130/kWh back, capped at $1,300.
Activation events credit 70¢/kWh on top of DEBS exports, and signing up is a WA rebate condition.
Worked examples of combining both schemes on a single install.
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