MEA gets behind household battery schemes

Australia’s peak body for the electrical industry is advocating for a boost in household battery incentives to make it more affordable for Australians to access electrification technology during a cost-of-living crisis.

Master Electricians Australia (MEA) welcomed the pilot scheme recently launched by the federal government in conjunction with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to electrify 500 homes in the Illawarra region. The program includes a subsidy of up to $1500 off home batteries.

“The Electrify 2515 Community Pilot is exciting news for local households as well as the many small electrical businesses in the Illawarra region,” said MEA CEO Kate Raymond.

“It will provide a real insight into how household electrification, together with solar and batteries, can reduce power bills [and] cut emissions, and what impact this technology has on the overall grid. We welcome this pilot program and believe it will advance the cause of household battery schemes.”

Raymond urged both the government and opposition to support further initiatives that encourage Australians to embrace home battery programs, such as Dr Helen Haines’s Cheaper Home Batteries Bill, which aims to reduce the cost of installing a home battery.

“Investment in schemes that encourage an uplift in household batteries would be the gift that keeps on giving for struggling Australian households,” Raymond said. “One-off rebates, such as we have seen from state governments, provide only short-term relief, whereas battery technology provides a more permanent solution to slashing household power bills.

“MEA is supportive of efforts from Dr Helen Haines to make household batteries more affordable by including them in the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES). At a cost of $3.6 million over four years, it is a small investment from the government that would provide ongoing financial relief during a cost-of-living crisis.”

Raymond added that MEA had met with the Energy Minister and the Nationals Leader in recent months and the organisation felt that momentum was building on both sides of politics on the matter of home batteries. “But with broad agreement that household batteries will be essential technology, there is no time like the present to incentivise households to embrace a more affordable way to store and use electricity,” she said.

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