Labor will invest $200 million over four years to connect up to 100,000 homes to 400 community batteries around Australia. 

Labor’s policy will reduce power bills and emissions, by making households less reliant on the electricity grid.

More than 1 in 5 Australian households have solar – the highest uptake in the world. 

But just 1 in 60 households have battery storage – because it’s expensive. Installed batteries typically cost $8,000-$15,000, on top of solar costs.

Compared to solar households with batteries, households without batteries:

• Pay more for electricity – because feed-in tariffs are lower than prices; and
• Produce greater emissions – because they are forced to rely on the electricity grid more often.

Solar households that connect to a community battery will pay less for power and reduce their emissions. 

Labor’s policy will also allow local households that can’t install solar – like renters and apartments – to draw from community batteries, so they can share in the benefits of solar.

Batteries also have community-wide benefits, because they reduce peak demand and therefore cost, and help to stabilise the grid. (Recently, the Australian Energy Market Commission proposed a rule change to charge households for feeding solar energy into the grid – highlighting the risks of solar without battery storage.)

Community batteries will be funded by the Commonwealth, installed by licensed electricians, and operated by networks.

A 4WD-sized battery of 500kWh is expected to cost around $500,000 and support up to 250 local households. 

Once a battery is installed in a community, providers will invite local households to participate – just like they offer solar and battery schemes now. 

Solar households will feed into the battery during the day, and draw from it at night. 

Other local households – like renters and apartments – will also be able to draw from the battery.

Compared to household batteries, community batteries:

• Reduce total capital, installation and maintenance costs; 
• Store and distribute electricity more efficiently – e.g. sharing excess solar power when families are on holidays; 
• Allow people who can’t install solar, e.g. renters and apartment dwellers, to draw from neighbours’ excess electricity; and
• Minimise safety risks.

Grid-scale batteries will play an important part in our energy future, but don’t allow individual households to directly store and draw from their own solar power.  

Labor’s Power to the People policy is a capped program of $200 million over four years from 1 July 2022.