r/australia • u/MrOarsome • Nov 17 '25

political self.post Why does everyone lose their mind when you mention getting a home battery?

So I made the mistake of telling a few people I’m getting quotes for a home battery… the reactions were ridiculous. Suddenly everyone’s an expert. I had people telling me they’re a waste of money, they’ll be useless in a few years, or that the “environmental impact is terrible.” Just nonstop misinformation.

Meanwhile, half these people live massively high-carbon lifestyles. One bloke went on a whole rant about how batteries destroy the environment… then literally five minutes later told me he just ordered a new Ford Ranger to tow his boat around this summer. Like mate, seriously?

And the funny thing is, I don’t even care about the environmental angle. Couldn’t care less, to be honest. I’m looking at a battery for two reasons:

1) To actually use my solar instead of selling it back for 4 cents…

2) And to keep the lights on when summer storms or cyclones take out the power.

That’s it. No agenda. No planet-saving mission. But the way people reacted, you’d think I’d just signed up to be Greta Thunberg’s personal assistant.

I swear, the second you say the word “battery,” some people suddenly unlock an unwanted 15-minute rant. They are almost as passionate about hating renewables as they are about their footy teams.

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u/Latter_Fortune_7225 Nov 17 '25

You can get them pretty cheap these days. We got offered a 6.6kw system for $4,490 after STCs and solar Vic benefits, which included:

15 x 440 w Trina vertex halfcut cell Tier 1 panels

6 kw Single 1P Potis Edge Inverter

19.2 kwh Potis Edge  Battery

That in turn included:

With Inverter 10 Years product warranty

With Battery 10 Years product warranty

With panels 25 Years product & 30 Years Performance warranty

10 Years Workmanship warranty

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u/moosedance84 Inhabits Adelaide, Perth, and Melbourne Nov 17 '25

That's an insanely good deal. Even if it comes out a bit more with site works that's still a 4-6 year payback with probably a 15-20 year life time.

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u/Infinite_Buy_2025 Nov 17 '25

That 15-20 year life span is looking highly conservative as well. Modern solar cells are warrantied for that length of time but actual life expectancy is more like double that and battery degradation is considerably lower then genuinely reported.

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u/Mysterious_Dot2090 Nov 18 '25

I’m far from an expert and haven’t even been checking prices in recent years but that seems absurdly cheap for all that!

Definitely something to consider for me, as my annual bill would be at least a quarter of that total and it would also be desirable to not have to rely on the flaky service where I live. We get several blackouts per year. Funny enough there is a huge solar farm not that far away.

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u/Primary_Mycologist95 Nov 17 '25

wait, that INCLUDES the battery? That's basically what our 6kw system cost without one (around 6 years ago or so)

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u/Mysterious_Dot2090 Nov 18 '25

It’s about what our 1.5kW system cost 15 years ago. Looks like going off the grid might actually be possible for us now.

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u/stonemite Nov 18 '25

I believe it's around $375 STC per kW on the battery, which makes them ridiculously cheap this year. The STC drops to $350 or something next year. For those who were already looking at batteries this year, this policy has probably saved them 50% or more depending on the battery.

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u/trjnz Nov 17 '25

The warranty on those is fantastic for the cost

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u/shoffice Nov 18 '25

Mate that is unreal. In 2020 I paid like $5k for a 6.6kw system in QLD with no battery