Home Batteries 101: How to Cut Your Power Bill

By Molly Benjamin, Founder of Ladies Finance Club

Listen to the full podcast here.

On this episode of Get Rich, I'm sitting down with Leigh from Resinc, one of Australia's highest-rated and most awarded solar companies, to talk all things home batteries. We cover what they actually do, how they work with solar power, what they cost, the government rebates on offer, and how long they take to pay for themselves. We also get into virtual power plants, blackout protection, and how battery storage can seriously slash your electricity bill. If you've ever been even a little bit battery curious, this one's worth a listen.

I'll be honest with you. Before I sat down to record this episode, I couldn't have told you a single useful thing about home batteries. Like, genuinely nothing. Someone asked me on Instagram whether I was talking about the kind you recycle and I thought, fair question.

But after spending time with Leigh from Resinc (one of Australia's highest-rated and most awarded solar companies), I walked away feeling like I actually understood something. And not in a "I Googled it once" way. In a real, practical, this-actually-applies-to-my-life kind of way. So I wanted to put it all together in one place for you. Whether you own your home, you're renting and just want to understand what's going on with energy costs, or you've been vaguely "battery curious" for a while now, this one's for you.

So, what does a home battery actually do?

In the simplest terms, a home battery captures the excess solar power your panels generate during the day and stores it so you can use it at night. Instead of feeding that energy back into the grid for a small credit, you're holding onto it and using it yourself when you get home from work, cook dinner, or run the air con.

You technically don't need solar panels to have a battery, but under the current rebate schemes in Australia, you do. The incentives are designed around homes that generate their own power. And speaking of generating your own power, Leigh mentioned something during our chat that I don't think gets nearly enough attention.

Free electricity. Yes, really.

Right now, in Victoria, New South Wales, and South East Queensland, there's a Solar Share program offering three hours of free electricity between 11am and 2pm. The reason? There are now 4.5 million homes with solar in Australia, and on sunny days, so much power floods the grid that the spot price drops to zero or even below. So the energy retailers share it.

If you have a battery, you can charge it during those free hours. If you don't have solar at all, you can still set timers on your dishwasher, washing machine, or EV charger to run in that window. It's a genuinely useful thing to know about, and most people haven't even heard of it.

What does it cost and what does the government give you back?

Battery storage costs vary quite a bit depending on what you need. Entry-level residential systems start around $5,000, while larger setups for bigger homes can reach $50,000. For most households though, a solid starting point is around $10,000 for a 15 to 20 kilowatt hour battery. To put that in context, the average Australian home uses about 20 to 25 kilowatt hours per day, so a 15 to 20 kilowatt hour battery can cover a big chunk of your overnight usage.

The good news is that the federal government's Cheaper Home Battery Program currently offers rebates of around $4,000 to $6,500, depending on the size of the battery. That's roughly a 30 to 40% reduction on cost, which is significant. The caveat is that these rebates are designed as a one-and-done deal, so it's worth getting the right-sized system from the start rather than trying to add on later.

For those who don't have the cash upfront (and honestly, most of us don't), green loans are available specifically for renewable energy products like solar and batteries. These loans can run up to 10 or 15 years, and the idea is that the savings on your power bills cover the repayments. Leigh's framing really stuck with me here: if the numbers work out so you're not paying anything upfront and your power bill savings cover the loan, you're better off from day one. I found that genuinely compelling.

The return on investment (and the blackout protection bonus)

For the average household, a battery system tends to pay for itself in four to seven years. That can shift depending on how much you use it and whether you participate in a virtual power plant, which I'll get to in a second. After it's paid off? Essentially free power.

My parents were actually one of the people who went out and got a battery after a massive storm in Queensland knocked their power out for seven days. Seven days. And apparently in the hinterlands, some people were out for 14. It's one of those things you don't think about until it happens, and then you really, really care. A home battery switches over automatically during a blackout and, if you've got a hybrid inverter setup, your solar can continue charging the battery even when the grid is down. You can genuinely run off-grid for days.

Virtual power plants: a side hustle for your battery

Okay, this is the part of the conversation where I genuinely got excited. A virtual power plant (or VPP) is essentially a network of home batteries that an energy retailer can tap into during peak demand periods when electricity prices spike. We're talking prices that normally sit around 30 to 35 cents per kilowatt hour jumping up to as high as $14 per kilowatt hour at peak moments.

When that happens, your retailer dispatches power from your battery (and thousands of others) into the grid. On a 20 kilowatt hour battery, you could earn $100 or more in a single event. And because you've got solar keeping your own home powered, you're not left without energy yourself.

The best part? Leigh made the point that this is essentially tax-free income for most households, because it shows up as electricity bill credits rather than earnings. A dollar saved really is better than a dollar earned. Participating in a VPP can bring your battery payback period down from seven or eight years to as few as three or four. You manage it all through an app, and most people just set it to automatic and let the algorithms do their thing.

A few things worth knowing before you buy

Leigh said something that's stayed with me: in all the years he's been doing this, not one customer has ever come back saying they bought a battery that was too big. Plenty have come back wishing they'd bought bigger. So if you're going to do this, do it properly. Get a custom design consultation rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Most batteries are modular, so you can technically add more capacity later. But since the government rebate is a one-time thing, it makes much more sense to right-size from the beginning. And if you're wondering whether you can take your battery with you if you move house, technically yes, but practically speaking, no. A well-installed solar and battery system adds real value to a property, so you're usually better off leaving it and starting fresh at your next place.

Is now the right time?

Leigh's closing point landed really well. Everything is going up right now, including electricity bills, the cost of batteries, and raw materials. What isn't going up is the rebate. In fact, it's been trimmed back already. So if you're genuinely thinking about energy independence, the window for getting a good deal on solar incentives is narrowing rather than expanding.

It's one of the very few living expenses where you actually have some control. And in a cost-of-living environment that feels relentless, that matters.

If you want to explore whether it makes sense for your home, Leigh and the team at Resinc offer free custom consultations. You can find them at resync.com.au/lfc for a Ladies Finance Club referral. There are also comparison sites like Solar Quotes that'll connect you with multiple providers if you want to shop around.

And if you want the full conversation with Leigh, go back and listen to the episode. It's one I'll probably send to my parents.

And as always, if you enjoyed this episode of Get Rich, please hit subscribe, share it with a friend, tell the woman next to you at yoga, you know the drill. Talk soon!