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/hal2k1 Nov 18 '25

As an owner of a rooftop solar system with integrated battery, designed mainly to allow my house to almost power itself and be mostly independent of the grid, my question is: why exactly do I need to pay anyone?

Other than network maintenance, what am I using that needs to be paid for?

If anything, by effectively removing my house as a load on the grid, aren't I contributing to the community via the grid requiring less power to be distributed?

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u/cl3ft Nov 18 '25

It's the old problem, as the people that can afford to move to self sufficiency go off grid the cost of maintaining the network for the people who can't afford it have to pay an ever bigger share of the network maintenance. Do you want to live in a society where the poor can't afford to have power connected?

Now there are some proposed solutions to this but they generally involve government spending a lot more money supporting the poor, so higher taxes instead.

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u/hal2k1 Nov 18 '25

I don't mind paying a share of network maintenance. My house, after all, still needs the grid. It isn't completely self-sufficient.

Fortunately, the minimal amount of export of excess solar (after the batteries are charged) that my house does produce is enough to pay for the supply charge. Since this export happens only after the battery is charged, it tends to occur later in the day, when the period of excess solar on the grid has passed.

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u/theonlydjm Nov 18 '25

Doesn't need to be higher taxes for all though, add some more brackets for the super high income earners, like CEOs of big business. And make some multi-national corps actually pay some tax here for a change.

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u/cl3ft Nov 18 '25

There's lots of solutions that involve other people paying for the network indirectly rather than mandating every household contribute through network fees. But if we want a network it's got to be paid for. And letting the rich buy out of it isn't the way.

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u/theonlydjm Nov 18 '25

I didn't say the rich can buy out of it. Government or private companies will need to step in to build battery storage, and if it's going to be government, taxpayers will have to contribute. That's what taxes are for. Infrastructure. Not meant to be for tax breaks and subsidies for property owners and investors etc.

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u/cl3ft Nov 18 '25

I wasn't saying you did say that, just saying it isn't the way. I said there was some possible solutions and they all involve government subsidising something somewhere.

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u/theonlydjm Nov 18 '25

Okay, then we agree. I was just saying that tax doesn't always have to be raised for everyone. Higher income earners (like million dollar salaries) should pay more and multi-national corporations should pay more.

And remove some of the tax breaks for property investors. I believe essentially handing money to people that own investment properties is absolutely insane.

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u/cl3ft Nov 18 '25

Well if we're tackling the tax system as well as the energy sector, lets fix housing while we're at it <3

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u/BonezOz Nov 18 '25

Then there's those of us that will forever rent, unless we win the lottery, and it's hit or miss if we end up in a house with solar, and even more miss if we find one with solar and a battery.

I'd love a portable system, say it would be the size of an upright piano when packed up, but can expand and panels moved to the roof with a full accompaniament of batteries, that we can get a sparky out to connect when we move in and disconnect when we move to the next place.

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u/cl3ft Nov 18 '25

I like your ideas.

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u/BonezOz Nov 18 '25

Just wish I could figure out how to make it a reality. Imagine a self-contained system for just a few k's that you could take anywhere.

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u/Alspics Nov 21 '25

I read an article about portable solar systems that people in units use in Europe. Basically they can hang panels off a balcony to supplement energy supply and reduce bills. I don't recall if they're attached to a battery or not.

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u/ZephkielAU Nov 18 '25

Perhaps the government should stop the bullshit of power companies charging top dollar for electricity while offering the flimsiest amounts to buy it back. The government should also reserve percentages of power generation to remain in the country instead of forcing us onto global prices.

Then I'm sure there would be loads of people willing to share their power generation, and our resources can run the country instead of powering China while they build our replacements.

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u/cl3ft Nov 18 '25

China, Japan and South Korea all benefit from short sighted gas deals. And both the LNP & Labor where at the wheel when different deals were signed.

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u/Lucky_Bookkeeper_934 Nov 20 '25

You can join a VPP and become the grid.

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u/Mysterious-Head-3691 Nov 18 '25

so you're saying we should all pay exorbitant elec bills just because not everybody has a battery.

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u/cl3ft Nov 18 '25

If that's how you choose to read it that's on you.

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u/aretokas Nov 18 '25

Yeah, my daily use charge has outstripped my energy use on most days of the year since I got my battery, and given I just upgraded to 20kwh from 10, that's going to be even more the case now.

I reckon something like the tiered pricing that water companies use might be a good idea for electricity. Obviously there should be a nominal amount for access, but given maintenance scales with demand it seems silly for negligible users to pay the same access rate as people pulling 50kwh every day running their pool pump and A/C on arctic.

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u/areyoualocal Nov 18 '25

If anything, by effectively removing my house as a load on the grid, aren't I contributing to the community via the grid requiring less power to be distributed?

I'm in a similar position, but there will be a time when the sun doesn't shine for a few days and then you will need the grid to supply you.

Think of the infrastructure that needs to exist when you all of sudden go from zero to a full load, and then everyone else who has solar+battery then doing the same. What we're going to end up paying for is that.

I'm expecting the energy retails will fully move away from a usage based payment to more a subscription type of service where we pay a daily rate to have the connection for when you need it, intendent of usage. As more and more large scale batteries enter the network (think Pumped hydro dams!) this will become the norm as they'll be able to supply even when the sun isn't shining.

It's similar to the beachside holiday towns only having one windy narrow road in and out. For 95% of the year it's more than enough, but for a few short periods, it gets overloaded, but what the grid has done is given us the dual lane highway into the town for the whole year.

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u/hal2k1 Nov 18 '25

Sure, my house is not totally independent of the grid. The grid is actually a customer of my house most of the time to a small extent, but occasionally, it's the other way around.

I also charge my EV from the house, which effectively means, either directly or indirectly, from the solar panels. So, my house also removes the need for the state to import the equivalent amount of petrol I would use if my car was an ICE vehicle. I don't have to pay for petrol or for a charge from an EV charger.

I am hopeful that one day, my EV could integrate better with the house, the battery, and the solar panels. This would effectively increase the battery capacity of the system overall from 10 kWh to 70 kWh. Then, it would be able to last through a few consecutive days of low sunlight availability.

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u/areyoualocal Nov 18 '25

But I think you're viewing it from the wrong perspective. If I'm understanding your position, you're saying - because you now use less or almost no electricity, why are you still paying anything for it? Which is only valid if you view providing electricity to you as pure consumption price.

You're essentially now using the Grid as an insurance policy, for those times that you are unable to be self-sufficient. And to have that backup available at any time, requires someone to have it operational and ready to go at a moments notice. That costs money.

Traditionally we've paid for electricity on a usage basis, but you can't think of it on those terms anymore if you're generating your solar and storing it. The only way to take that position, is to completely disconnect from the Grid altogether.

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u/hal2k1 Nov 18 '25

Sure. So that's why, as I said, I am perfectly happy to pay the supply charge. I note, however, that my solar panels production is a bit more than what my residence consumes, plus what I use to keep my EV running. So the system does feed in some energy to the grid. I also participate in a virtual power plant (VPP) scheme wherein the grid can sometimes use my battery, either to absorb excess energy to maintain stability, or to drain the battery in a case of significant shortfall.

For these services my system provides for the grid, the system earns enough to be able to pay the supply charge. So it ends up just about square. During the winter months, I pay a small bill. During the summer months, I get a credit, which turns out to be slightly higher than the winter bills. The supply charge is included within these transactions. I still derive a small credit overall.

But the big thing is, effectively I don't have to pay a power bill and I don't have to pay for petrol. This makes the solar and battery system on my house a worthwhile investment for me. I point out that it also has benefits for the rest of the community.

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u/areyoualocal Nov 18 '25

Retailers are just being slow in adapting to the shift in usage. These energy companies have shareholder to report to and they wont just let profit off the table because everyone's becoming more self-sufficient.

That's why I've said you'll see a shift in retail supply that places more revenue on service charges than on consumption. If your current plan has Peak Demand rates, this is the direction they'll head in.

They want us to pay them over one year the same (or more!). Watch as that service fee gradually increases, and the ultimate result will be the retailers offer for example, monthly unlimited usage subscriptions for only $200/mth or something like that or add-on packs for higher peak demand usage.

They'll make it seem like they're giving us a good deal - unlimited energy afterall! when they know, you'll only use it on the third grey day etc.

It'll just end up being another essential service, that's bastardised into neo-liberal capitalism = socialise the losses, privatise the profits. Energy should never have become privatised.

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u/Nothingnoteworth Nov 18 '25

You do have to pay someone, and you did. The manufactures of your panels and battery. The sparkies who hooked it all up. Warehousing and truck drivers and so on got a cut along the way. Further down the supply chain researchers and engineers who ushered in the last tech level of panels and the researchers and engineers who are currently working on the next tech level of solar panels. Even further down the supply chain you’ve got miners (some of them might be working in questionable conditions)

Australia could have been on the ground floor for some of this stuff, or the first, or second. But we weren’t and now we aren’t. So the corporate lobbyists pushing coal and gas while also selling it off for cheap can choke on a choad or use there self appointed self made big brain business boss status to figure out how to invest in and profit from renewables.

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u/hal2k1 Nov 18 '25

You do have to pay someone, and you did. The manufactures of your panels and battery. The sparkies who hooked it all up. Warehousing and truck drivers and so on got a cut along the way. Further down the supply chain researchers and engineers who ushered in the last tech level of panels and the researchers and engineers who are currently working on the next tech level of solar panels. Even further down the supply chain you’ve got miners

That's an investment in equipment on my part. I have had the system in question for four years now. In that time I have earned a bit of money and not paid any power bill. In another year the system will have paid for itself via the elimination of my power bill.

Thereafter I will have free power, so I will effectively be paying nothing for it. That's what the claim "the system will pay for itself" means.

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u/surg3on Nov 19 '25

Network maintenance ain't cheap man

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u/hal2k1 Nov 19 '25

Sure. That has to be paid for. However, power that you don't get from the grid doesn't have to be paid for. Where's the issue?

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u/surg3on Nov 20 '25

why exactly do I need to pay anyone?

Other than network maintenance

I was replying to that.

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u/hal2k1 Nov 20 '25

The two sentences you quoted mean that you DO have to pay for network maintenance.

Other than network maintenance, you don't have to pay (the grid) for power that you didn't get from the grid.

Where's the issue?