SolarQuotes Blog

If Your Battery Dies, Your Bills Will Rocket. Here’s Who Should Pay.

September 1, 2026 2026-08-31T14:29:58 by Leave a Comment

a styilised still from 730 report

A fortnight ago, 7.30 aired an investigation into Solar Power Nation, a retailer the ABC reports is under investigation by authorities in Queensland, NSW and South Australia after hundreds of complaints.

One customer, Amin Khorram, paid $13,000 for a battery system. Only one of the two inverters was installed, so he got 5 kW of the promised 10 kW and couldn’t charge or discharge his batteries fast enough to get all the savings he expected. He chased the company for eight months. The missing inverter finally appeared last month, as his QCAT hearing date approached. Funny, that. [Continue reading…]

NSW Businesses Can Now Stack Solar And Battery Discounts

August 31, 2026 2026-08-31T09:22:05 by Leave a Comment

Commercial solar battery discounts

From 1 September, NSW businesses are able to cut the upfront cost of a new battery by around 20–40%, with the biggest discounts available when new solar is installed alongside it.

The battery incentives aren’t new, but with today’s launch, the NSW Government has now put some numbers around the savings, and confirmed they can be combined with federal support for commercial solar. [Continue reading…]

Quitting Gas Costs: A Small Step For The ACT, A Giant Leap For NSW

August 28, 2026 2026-08-28T05:59:49 by 11 Comments

On 1 July 2026, it became much cheaper to permanently disconnect from gas in New South Wales (NSW) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). Like many regulatory changes, this news was tucked away in a PDF that most people never read.

[Continue reading…]

Adjusting Your Heat Pump Hot Water System For Cold Weather

August 27, 2026 2026-08-27T06:14:03 by 25 Comments

In the colder months of the year, your heat pump hot water system may need adjusting. Heat pump hot water systems are highly efficient because they don’t generate heat in the same way as traditional electric hot water systems. Instead, they draw heat from the surrounding air and transfer it into the water.

[Continue reading…]

Are Synergy’s Batteries Gaming WA’s Power Market?

August 26, 2026 2026-08-26T06:07:03 by 6 Comments
Synergy Kwinana battery storage

Western Australia’s government-owned Synergy has an unusual position in the electricity market: it owns some of the state’s biggest batteries, as well as generators selling electricity into the same market. New analysis has found its batteries sometimes charging at surprisingly high wholesale prices in the middle of the night, helping push those prices even higher. […]

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Best Hot Water Heat Pump In Australia 2026: Installer’s Choice Awards

August 25, 2026 2026-08-25T06:29:10 by 21 Comments
2026 Installers Choice Awards Best Heat Pump

Heat pump hot water systems continue to grow in popularity as more Australians look for ways to get off gas. To find out which heat pump installers trust most in 2026, we asked Australian installers a simple question: “Which heat pump hot water system would you choose for your own home?” The result wasn’t even […]

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Kilowatts vs Kilowatt-Hours: The Mix-Up That Never Dies

August 24, 2026 2026-08-24T08:47:50 by 22 Comments

I first wrote about this back in 2012. Fourteen years later, I’m still writing about it. That should tell you something about how sticky this confusion is.

[Continue reading…]

The Best Air Cons To Heat Your Home

August 21, 2026 2026-08-20T10:24:27 by 58 Comments
Air conditioning in winter

Choosing a reverse cycle air conditioner can feel overwhelming. There are dozens of brands available, all claiming to offer excellent performance, efficiency and reliability. Given we’re in winter, we’ll focus this article on the best brands for heating, to keep us toasty warm.

[Continue reading…]

Why Adding A Battery Module Isn’t As Simple As Lego

August 20, 2026 2026-08-20T06:27:53 by 10 Comments
Lego expandable modular battery

Looking at a modular home battery, adding another module appears about as difficult as stacking another Lego brick. Lift the new battery into place, stack it on top of the others, plug it in and away you go. How hard can it be? It’s probably why the question pops up every now and then in […]

[Continue reading…]

Could AEMO’s Cautious Grid Planning Be Costing You Money?

August 19, 2026 2026-08-19T12:22:40 by 7 Comments
AEMO grid planning report

Australia’s electricity market operator has been warned that an overly cautious approach to planning the grid could leave consumers paying more than necessary. That’s one of the findings of an independent review of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), which has also raised concerns about potential conflicts between some of the organisation’s expanding responsibilities.

[Continue reading…]
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