While Labor banked on battery incentives, on the eve of the election the Coalition announced plans for cuts to a range of home electrification programs. Here’s what was facing the axe.
Coalition Cuts
In its release of costings on Thursday the Coalition announced it planned to axe a raft of programs related to home electrification and green energy. Programs set to be axed included:
- The $26 billion Future Made in Australia Program;
- The $19 billion Rewiring the Nation Program;
- The $16 billion National Reconstruction Fund;
- The Net Zero Economy Agency.
Funding to Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water will also be cut substantially, while plans for additional funding for ARENA and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation will be curtailed.
The Coalition has pledged to get rid of the fringe benefit tax exemption for electric vehicles and EV charging equipment.
Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks
A key sticking point this election has been the fringe benefit tax on electric vehicles, which allows Australians to lease an eligible EV through their employer without paying FBT.
- Opposition Leader Peter Dutton initially promised to protect this lucrative tax break for electric cars, but his party backflipped days later by declaring it would be scrapped;
- The Coalition instead is focusing on petrol vehicles, vowing to halve fuel excise for 12 months and abolish incoming fuel efficiency penalties;
- The EV fringe benefits tax exemption, which Labor has vowed to keep in place, can also apply to EV home charger equipment;
- Depending on your novated lease provider, you can salary-sacrifice the hardware and installation costs of a home EV charger and other charging accessories if they are offered in your lease package.
Gas Versus Electrification
The Coalition has proposed doubling down on gas to reduce energy prices with a plan that includes reserving gas for domestic use on Australia’s east coast.
- This is despite SolarQuotes analysis that finds almost every Australian household would save considerable amounts of money by getting off gas;
- Our in-house fact checker Ronald Brakels looked into claims made during the election that gas is efficient and vital to keeping Australian homes warm. Ronald found that in almost all cases alternative electric appliances are more efficient to run.
A nuclear lobby group has been making misleading claims about nuclear energy – ignoring the cost to owners of rooftop solar.
Nuclear Impact on Solar
Another key energy policy proposed by the Coalition is a plan to roll out nuclear power stations in the coming decades.
Labor’s Home Battery Rebate
Central to Labor’s election campaign is the $2.3bn Cheaper Home Batteries Program, which the Coalition costings reveal would not be supported under a Dutton government.
- This scheme would cover an up-front discount on the purchase and installation of home batteries, with a subsidy of around $372 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) useable capacity, before administrative fees and charges;
- If Labor wins the election, the official start date of this scheme is July 1, 2025, however solar batteries installed from now until then would also be eligible (provided you don’t turn them on);
- The discount is supposed to work alongside existing state schemes, which allows for some big savings through double-dipping — but also some big potential problems, including a perverse incentive for people to quit the grid entirely.
- For a home battery with a 10 kWh usable capacity, the incentive will be approximately $3,720 minus admin fees for an installation in 2025. If you want to estimate how much you could save, try our Federal Government Solar Battery Rebate Calculator;
- Don’t fall for misleading marketing from installers who suggest that the scheme is a sure thing, no matter who wins the election, as the Coalition has revealed in their costings that they will not fund the program.
The Greens are campaigning on a promise to give renters the right to get solar.
Solar For Renters
The Greens unveiled a plan to expand access to solar for renters by giving them the right to request systems be installed by their landlords.
- Under the Renters Right To Solar scheme, tenants would be able to request a solar panel system up to 8kW capacity be installed at their rental properties;
- Landlords would only be able to deny the tenant’s request on reasonable grounds, such as body corporate rules precluding it, engineering challenges or local electricity network constraints;
- A new $10bn fund established through publicly-owned Snowy Hydro would pick up the tab for the installations initially, but landlords would need to pay for the systems over time;
- Finn thinks that landlords have always been too big a barrier to solar access for renters, and as an alternative has proposed plug-and-play batteries which renters can take with them whenever they move as a solution.
After The Election
We’ll continue to cover what the election result means for solar, batteries and EV chargers, and everything else to do with home electrification. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter for a complete rundown.
