Solar & battery packages. Fair ones are itemised.
A package is a price with the itemisation removed. Sometimes that is convenience — one visit, one switchboard job, one commissioning genuinely costs less. Sometimes it is camouflage. The difference is a single test: ask for the itemised version. A fair package survives the question; the other kind gets defensive. Here is what belongs inside one, what the rebates in your state actually change, and the arithmetic behind “free battery” deals.
Written by Juan Flinn, Content Editor · Reviewed by the Mission Green Energy Team · Updated 31 August 2026
What a fair package
must list.
If any line below is missing, the price is not comparable to anything.
The hardware, by model. Panel make, model and count. Inverter make and model. Battery make, model and — the number that matters — usable kilowatt-hours, not nominal.
The work. Mounting system, switchboard upgrades, metering changes, travel. This is where identical hardware prices diverge honestly — a 1960s switchboard is a real cost, not padding.
The people. Who holds the SAA accreditation for the install — a name, not a logo. Subcontracted installs are common and not automatically bad, but you are entitled to know.
The warranties, separately. Panels, inverter, battery and workmanship all carry different terms from different parties. “25-year warranty” on a package usually describes one component.
The rebate line. Exactly what was deducted, under which scheme, and what happens to the price if an eligibility check fails. The discount belongs on paper, not in the pitch.
Where package deals
go wrong.
Three patterns account for most of the grief.
Priced before anyone looked
A real price needs your roof, your switchboard and your bill. A package priced identically for every house in the state has margin built in to absorb the surprises — yours, either way.
The “free” battery
The federal discount is real and roughly 30%. It is not 100%. A free battery is a battery priced into the panels, the install or the finance — ask for the itemised version and watch where it reappears.
The discount that dies tonight
Rebate schedules are published: the federal rate steps down on 1 January 2027, not at midnight. A deadline that exists only inside one company’s quote is a sales tool, not a policy.
What changes the price
in your state.
As at 31 August 2026. Every figure links to its government source on our programs page.
Everywhere: the federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program takes roughly 30% off an installed battery (full support to 14 kWh usable, less above), and STCs discount the panels — typically $1,500–$1,700 on a 6.6 kW system. Both are claimed by the installer and should appear as explicit lines.
VIC: Solar Victoria’s panel rebate adds up to $1,400 (household income cap $150,000 since 1 July 2026), with an optional interest-free loan of the same amount — the rebate is a discount, the loan is credit, and a package should not blur them.
NSW: connecting the battery to a VPP earns an incentive, and the Home Energy Saver offers 0% loans up to $15,000 for eligible households. From 1 September 2026 apartment buildings get their own battery incentive.
QLD: no general state battery rebate — packages lean on the federal discount. Landlords: Supercharged Solar for Renters offers up to $3,500 toward solar on eligible rentals.
SA: the state VPP program pays a rebate for connecting an eligible battery, and REPS activities vary by retailer — both worth asking about, neither worth inflated claims.
WA: the one state where two battery rebates stack: the WA Residential Battery Scheme ($1,300 Synergy area / $3,800 Horizon area) sits on top of the federal discount. VPP participation is required.
TAS: honestly, the hardest case — no live state scheme since the Energy Saver Loan closed, so the federal discount carries the package. Lower sun hours and a 9.276c feed-in narrow the margin; size conservatively.
ACT: the Sustainable Household Scheme lends up to $20,000 at 3% for batteries (solar itself now runs through the Home Energy Support Program, up to $5,000 for eligible households).
How to compare
two packages.
Normalise, then decide.
Dollars per kW of panels, after rebates. Divide the solar portion by system size. Two honest quotes land in the same neighbourhood; a wild outlier in either direction deserves questions.
Dollars per usable kWh of battery, after rebates. The single most clarifying number in a battery quote — and it forces the usable-capacity disclosure that nominal marketing avoids.
Warranty years, per component. Line them up separately. A cheap package with a 5-year inverter warranty is not cheap in year six.
The accreditation check. Verify who is doing the work — it takes two minutes on the SAA register.
If one package cannot produce the numbers to normalise, the comparison has already produced its result.
Packages:
your questions, answered.
An itemised list: panel make, model and count; inverter make and model; battery make, model and usable kilowatt-hours; mounting, switchboard work and any metering changes; monitoring; the installer's SAA accreditation; warranty terms for each component and for the workmanship; and the rebate line showing exactly what was deducted and under which scheme. A single number with none of that is not a package — it is a price with the evidence removed.
Sometimes — bundling one site visit, one switchboard job and one commissioning genuinely costs less than two separate installs. But the discount is only real if you can see it, and that requires itemised pricing on both the bundle and the parts. A package that refuses to itemise is not hiding a discount.
Two honest reasons: rebates and sun. The federal battery discount (~30%) applies everywhere, but on top of it Victoria adds a solar panel rebate with an income cap, WA adds a state battery rebate that stacks, NSW adds VPP incentives and zero-interest loans, and Tasmania adds nothing at all. Sun hours then change what the same hardware earns. The same package genuinely is worth different amounts in different states.
No. The battery's cost is inside the package price somewhere — spread across the panels, the install, or the finance. The federal discount is real and roughly 30%; 100% is not a rebate, it is arithmetic rearranged. Ask for the itemised version and watch where the battery's cost reappears.
Together usually wins on install cost and system design — the inverter choice changes if a battery is coming. Separately can win if your roof is ready but your budget is not, or if you want to see a year of solar data before sizing storage. The wrong answer is letting a package deadline decide; the federal discount steps down on a published schedule (next on 1 January 2027), not at midnight tonight.
Normalise them: dollars per kW of panels and dollars per usable kWh of battery, both after rebates; then warranty years on each component; then who actually holds the SAA accreditation doing the work. If one package cannot give you the numbers to normalise, that is the comparison result.
Where these figures come from.
Rebate figures above are as at 31 August 2026 and maintained daily in our open dataset — every entry linked to its government source.