On a legacy 44c feed-in tariff? Do not touch anything yet.
This is the purest anti-sale advice we give. If you're on Queensland's 44c Solar Bonus Scheme or a similar legacy premium tariff, adding a battery or changing your system can void it — often permanently. Before you sign anything, read this, then get it confirmed in writing.
Reviewed by the Mission Green Energy Team · Updated July 2026
Why is "do nothing yet"
the honest advice?
Because your legacy tariff may be worth more than anything a seller wants to install — and because many changes void it permanently. There is no appeal and no undo. Protect first, decide second.
Most pages about home batteries — including our own honest guide to whether a battery is worth it — start from the assumption that a battery might be a good buy. If you're on a legacy premium feed-in tariff, that assumption is upside down. You already hold something valuable: a grandfathered rate for exported solar that closed to new entrants years ago, and that nobody can get back once it's gone.
That changes the order of operations completely:
- Do not buy a battery yet. Adding storage — particularly storage that can export to the grid — is one of the classic changes that can end legacy-scheme eligibility.
- Do not upgrade or resize your system yet. Increasing inverter capacity or changing the approved configuration are also classic triggers.
- Do not sign anything on an installer's verbal assurance. Only your distributor and the official scheme rules decide what your tariff survives — and only a written answer protects you.
None of this means a battery is a bad product, or that you'll be on the premium tariff forever. It means the decision has a step zero that most sellers skip, because step zero often ends the sale: find out, in writing, what the change does to your tariff — and compare what you'd give up against what you'd gain. This page walks through exactly that, for Queensland's Solar Bonus Scheme (44c) and South Australia's legacy scheme. If you're in either state, our Queensland and South Australia pages cover the wider local picture.
What is a legacy premium tariff —
and why is yours irreplaceable?
Legacy premium feed-in tariffs are closed, grandfathered schemes from the early solar era. They pay far more per exported kilowatt-hour than today's rates — and once you lose eligibility, you cannot rejoin.
In the early years of rooftop solar, several states paid generous premium rates to encourage households to install panels. The best known is Queensland's Solar Bonus Scheme, which pays eligible households 44c per kilowatt-hour for the solar they export — several times what a typical feed-in tariff pays today. South Australia's legacy premium feed-in scheme works on the same principle: a grandfathered above-market export rate for households who signed up before the scheme closed.
Three things make these tariffs different from anything you can get now:
- They are closed. No new customer can join. The only people who have them are the people who already have them.
- They are conditional. Eligibility continues only while you keep meeting the scheme's conditions — which typically cover the system, the premises and the account holder, not just the panels on the roof.
- Loss is permanent. If a change ends your eligibility, you drop to an ordinary feed-in rate and there is no path back. This is why a mistake here can't be fixed with an apology or a refund.
The authoritative rules live with the scheme administrator and your distributor — qld.gov.au, Energex and Ergon Energy in Queensland; the South Australian government's energy pages and SA Power Networks in SA. Everything on this page is a guide to the questions; those sources are the only ones whose answers count.
What changes can
void your legacy tariff?
The exact rules belong to your scheme and distributor — but these are the changes that typically put legacy eligibility at risk. Treat every one of them as "check in writing first".
Increasing inverter capacity
Legacy eligibility is typically tied to the approved capacity of your system. Swapping in a bigger inverter — or adding a second one — is one of the most common ways households have lost a premium rate. Never upsize without written approval.
Adding a battery that can export
Storage that can send energy to the grid changes what your connection exports and how — exactly the kind of change legacy schemes care about. Whether any battery configuration is acceptable at your address is a question only your distributor can answer, in writing.
Changing the account holder
Legacy tariffs are typically attached to the account holder at the premises, not just the hardware. Changing the name on the account — after a sale, a death, a divorce or even a household reshuffle — can end eligibility. Check before any account change, not after.
Upsizing the solar array
Adding panels sounds harmless — the inverter is the same, right? But schemes typically approved a specific system, and changes to it can trigger a review. Get the exact proposed change confirmed in writing before a single panel goes up.
Moving or selling
Because eligibility typically follows the account holder and premises together, moving house usually means leaving the tariff behind — it does not travel with you, and it may not survive for the buyer. Factor that into any decision to sell or relocate.
"Tariff-safe" claims made verbally
Some sellers claim a particular battery setup "doesn't affect the 44c". Maybe, maybe not — but we won't tell you which configurations are exempt, and neither should they, because neither of us administers the scheme. Only a written answer from your distributor counts.
Is the 44c tariff worth more
than a battery would save?
For many high-export households, yes. The comparison is simple to state in words, even though the numbers are yours to run: what the tariff pays you for exports versus what a battery would save you by storing them.
Here's the decision in plain words, no invented figures. A battery makes money by taking solar you would have exported and storing it so you buy less grid power at night. That's a great trade when your exports earn very little — which is the situation for almost everyone on a modern feed-in tariff. But you are not almost everyone. On a premium legacy rate, every kilowatt-hour you export is already earning far more than a normal feed-in credit — so the "cheap" energy a battery would store isn't cheap for you at all. It's your best-paid energy.
That flips the usual logic:
- If you export most of your solar — out during the day, modest evening usage — the premium tariff is often worth more than battery self-consumption. For these households the honest answer is usually to keep the tariff and wait.
- If you export very little — big daytime usage, small system — the tariff earns you less, and the comparison gets closer. It still has to be run on your actual figures, and the tariff-voiding risk still applies to the install itself.
- Either way, the burden of proof sits with the battery. It has to beat a valuable entitlement you already own, not just an empty roofline.
Your electricity bill shows your actual exports and the rate paid on them, which is where any honest comparison starts. Our battery worth-it guide explains the general payback logic; the difference for you is that the tariff side of the ledger is unusually strong, and it stays strong until the scheme ends. Which is a scheduled event — more on that below.
What repairs are you
usually allowed to make?
Like-for-like repairs are generally the kind of change schemes permit — households aren't meant to lose the tariff because a part failed. But "generally" isn't a guarantee, so the written-confirmation rule still applies.
Legacy systems are old, and parts fail — inverters especially. The good news is that schemes typically distinguish between repairing a system and changing it:
- Like-for-like repairs — replacing a failed inverter with one of equivalent capacity, or a failed panel with an equivalent one — are generally the category of work schemes allow, so a breakdown doesn't have to cost you the tariff.
- Distributor-approved configurations — anything beyond like-for-like should only happen after your distributor has approved the specific change in writing. If they approve it, keep the letter or email with your system paperwork permanently.
- An upgrade dressed as a repair is still an upgrade. "While we're replacing the inverter, let's go bigger" is exactly the move that turns an allowed repair into a tariff-ending change. Equivalent means equivalent.
Two practical rules. First, all of this is electrical work — repairs and replacements must be done by a licensed electrician or accredited installer, never as DIY; rooftop and inverter work is dangerous as well as regulated. Second, document everything: what failed, what replaced it, its capacity, and the distributor's written confirmation if there was any doubt. If your eligibility is ever questioned, that paper trail is what protects you.
Can you trust an installer who says
"your tariff will be fine"?
No — not because installers are all dishonest, but because the assurance is worthless even when it's sincere. The installer doesn't administer the scheme, isn't liable for your lost tariff, and won't be there when the rate disappears from your bill.
This is the single most important process point on this page. When a salesperson tells a 44c household "we do these all the time, your tariff will be fine", three things are true at once: they may believe it, they cannot bind the scheme to it, and you carry all of the downside if they're wrong. A verbal assurance — or a line in a sales quote — is not a document you can wave at your distributor when the premium rate vanishes.
The process that actually protects you:
- Write to your distributor — Energex or Ergon Energy in Queensland, SA Power Networks in South Australia — describing the exact proposed change: make and model, inverter capacity before and after, whether the battery can export to the grid.
- Write to your retailer as well, and ask how the change affects your feed-in arrangement and billing.
- Get the answers in writing, and keep them. Email is fine. "The rep said it was OK on the phone" is not.
- Do all of this before signing or paying anything — including a "fully refundable deposit". If a seller pressures you to commit before the written answer arrives, that pressure is your answer.
The same scrutiny applies to the company itself: before any deposit changes hands, run the checks in our guide to vetting a solar installer before you pay. A seller who is careless with your tariff is rarely careful anywhere else.
Why are sellers pushing 44c households
to "upgrade now with the rebate"?
Because the rebate makes batteries easier to sell — not because it makes them right for you. A seller who urges a legacy-tariff household to hurry is acting against that customer's interest, and we'll say so plainly.
The federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program takes around 30% off the installed cost of a battery. That's real, and for the right home it's genuinely useful. It has also produced a wave of marketing aimed at exactly the households reading this page: "You're still on the old tariff? Perfect time to upgrade — the rebate won't last!"
Let's be precise about what that pitch is asking you to do: spend money to trade a closed, irreplaceable premium tariff for a discounted battery — before checking whether the tariff was worth more. For a high-export legacy household, that can be a straightforwardly bad trade, rebate included. A discount on the wrong purchase is still the wrong purchase.
Two more honest points that deflate the urgency:
- The rebate steps down on a published schedule — it is not a cliff. It reduces in stages rather than vanishing overnight, so "act this week or lose it" is manufactured pressure, not fact.
- Your tariff has its own clock, set by government. The right comparison isn't "rebate now vs rebate later" — it's "tariff income until the scheme ends vs battery savings after it". That calculation rewards patience, not panic.
A seller who runs that comparison with you, in the open, is worth talking to. A seller who skips it — or who assures you the tariff "will be fine" without a written answer from your distributor — is telling you whose interest they're serving. It isn't yours.
How should you plan for the
scheme's eventual end?
Legacy schemes don't run forever — each has an end point set by government. Know your date from the official source, put it in the calendar, and make the battery decision on schedule instead of under pressure.
We're deliberately not printing an end date here. Scheme rules and dates are set by government and can change, and a date on a company's web page is exactly the kind of second-hand "fact" this page tells you not to rely on. Instead:
- Look up your scheme's current end date at the source — qld.gov.au for the Solar Bonus Scheme, the South Australian government's energy pages for SA's legacy scheme — and confirm anything unclear with your distributor.
- Put the date in your calendar, with a reminder a few months out. That reminder is when the battery question genuinely opens for you — not when a doorknocker decides it has.
- When the premium rate ends, the maths flips honestly. Your exports drop to an ordinary feed-in rate, the tariff stops being the asset it was, and a battery becomes worth a proper look on the same terms as any other household — current prices, current rebates, your real usage.
This is the difference between a timed decision and a panicked one. Households that wait for their scheme's end date lose nothing — they collect the premium rate until the last day, then choose from whatever the market and the rebates look like at that point. Households that jump early, on a seller's urgency, give up the one thing they could never buy back. When your date approaches, our battery worth-it guide and a free assessment will be here — and the advice will be just as blunt then as it is now.
So — what should you actually do?
Here's the advice we'd give a family member on the 44c tariff: protect it first, verify everything in writing, and let the calendar — not a salesperson — decide when the battery conversation starts.
If you're on a legacy premium feed-in tariff, our recommendation in one paragraph: don't buy, don't upgrade, and don't sign anything yet. Look up your scheme's rules and end date on the official government page. If anyone proposes any change to your system — a battery, a bigger inverter, extra panels, even an account change — get written confirmation from your distributor and retailer that your tariff survives it before a dollar moves. Run the words-and-numbers comparison honestly: for many high-export households, the tariff wins until the scheme ends, and the right battery moment is at that end date, not before. And treat anyone selling urgency to a 44c household as exactly what they are — someone whose commission depends on you not doing this arithmetic.
Yes, we install batteries. This page still says "not yet" to a lot of the people reading it, because that's the correct answer for them — and pretending otherwise is how this industry earned its reputation.
Legacy tariffs and batteries:
your questions, answered.
It can, and you must not rely on anyone's verbal assurance that it won't. Under Queensland's Solar Bonus Scheme, eligibility depends on conditions set by the scheme and your electricity distributor, and changes to your system — particularly adding storage that can export to the grid or increasing your inverter capacity — are the kinds of changes that have cost people their premium rate. Some configurations may be acceptable and others are not, and the boundary is not something an installer can decide for you. The only safe process is to describe the exact proposed change to your distributor (Energex or Ergon in Queensland, SA Power Networks in South Australia) and your retailer, and get written confirmation that your tariff survives it, before you sign or pay anything. If the answer is unclear, do not proceed.
For many high-export households, yes — which is why the honest advice is often to keep the tariff and skip the battery for now. A premium tariff like 44c per kilowatt-hour pays you handsomely for every unit you export, while a battery saves you money by storing that same energy for use at night instead. If the premium rate you would give up exceeds what the battery would save you, the tariff wins, and that is a common outcome for households that export most of their solar. The comparison depends on your actual export and usage figures, so run them before deciding — but the burden of proof sits with the battery, not the tariff. A free Mission Green assessment will run the numbers and tell you plainly if keeping the legacy tariff untouched is the better deal, because for many homes it is.
Like-for-like repairs — such as replacing a failed inverter with one of equivalent capacity — are generally the kind of change schemes allow, precisely so households are not forced off the tariff by a breakdown. But 'generally' is not good enough when a premium tariff is at stake: repair rules have specific conditions, and an upgrade dressed up as a repair can still cost you the rate. Before any work, confirm in writing with your distributor exactly what you are allowed to replace and with what, and keep the paperwork. Use a licensed electrician or accredited installer for any repair — this is electrical work, never a DIY job — and make sure the replacement is documented as like-for-like.
Your electricity distributor and the official scheme administrator — not your installer, and not a salesperson. In Queensland that means Energex or Ergon Energy plus the scheme conditions published on qld.gov.au; in South Australia it means SA Power Networks and the official South Australian government scheme information. Your retailer should also confirm how the change affects your billing. Ask in writing, describe the exact change you are considering — brand, inverter size, whether a battery can export — and keep the written reply. An installer's assurance, however confident, is not binding on the scheme and will not get your tariff back if it turns out to be wrong.
Not just because the rebate exists. The federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program takes around 30% off the installed cost of a battery, which is genuinely useful — for the right home. But if adding the battery voids a premium feed-in tariff that currently pays you more than the battery would save, the rebate is a discount on a downgrade. Sellers who push 44c households to 'upgrade now before the rebate changes' are acting against your interest, and you should treat that pitch as a red flag. The honest sequence is: confirm in writing what a battery would do to your tariff, compare what the tariff pays you against what the battery would save, and only then decide. The rebate steps down on a published schedule rather than vanishing overnight, and it is never a reason to destroy a more valuable entitlement in a hurry.
Check the official source for your scheme's current end date — qld.gov.au for Queensland's Solar Bonus Scheme, or the South Australian government's energy pages for SA's legacy scheme — rather than relying on this page or any installer, because scheme rules are set by government and can change. The right move is to note the end date in your calendar and plan a decision for then, not to panic now. When the premium rate ends, the maths flips: your exports drop to an ordinary feed-in rate, and a battery becomes worth a genuine look on the same terms as any other household. Until that date, the tariff is usually the asset worth protecting. Get an honest assessment in the months before the scheme ends, and you will make the change once, calmly, with current prices and rebates in front of you.
Where to check the actual rules.
Legacy-scheme eligibility rules and end dates are set by government and administered by your distributor. These are the sources whose answers count — confirm anything on this page against them before acting.
- Queensland Government (qld.gov.au) — Solar Bonus Scheme eligibility conditions & end date
- Energex — distributor for South East Queensland
- Ergon Energy — distributor for regional Queensland
- SA Department for Energy and Mining — legacy feed-in scheme information
- SA Power Networks — distributor for South Australia
- Clean Energy Regulator — Cheaper Home Batteries Program