Beware ‘Bargain’ Battery Offers In Your Letterbox

Snail mail home battery offersSometimes I write blog posts that are fact checks. But today’s is more a statement of fact.  And that fact is:

If your electricity consumption is anywhere close to normal, it’s a bad idea to blow your your only chance to use the battery rebate on a tiny 5 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery, like the one promoted by Solar Battery Group’s letter mailout campaign.

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Australia’s Battery Boom Has a Wiring Problem

Battery wires left exposedIf you’ve got a high-voltage stackable battery system and the DC cables between the battery and inverter don’t have mechanical protection, you’re not compliant with Australian standards and your systems could be classed as unsafe – and shut down.

This column explains why, and what the standard requires.

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Installers Using Oil Crisis To Fuel Battery Rebate Lies

Dodgy free solar claims

Door knockers are falsely claiming that the government is giving away free solar and battery systems because of “the oil crisis”, as a spate of online ads assert the federal rebate will end in May.  [Read more…]

3 Ways Smart People Still Get Home Batteries Wrong

A man with a clipboard next to a battery rebate signThe government’s decision to taper the battery rebate every six months feels like it’s been borrowed straight from a hard-sell playbook. There’s nothing like a rolling “price goes up soon!” to push people toward a decision before they’ve properly thought it through.

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Regulator Warning Over Battery Rebate Deception

The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) has issued a warning to retailers and installers over deceptive behaviour occurring in the rush to get batteries ahead of the May changes to the federal rebate.

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Cheap Battery Deals And The GST Time Bomb

A GST bomb next to batteriesAbout twelve years ago, there was a quiet wave of solar company bankruptcies in Australia. They were not caused by dodgy panels, bad installs, or disappearing warranties. They were caused by tax.

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Fact Check: No, The Battery Rebate Isn’t Ending

A dial pointing to the right above the word 'false'

Across the country, installers are bending over backward to get systems in before the federal battery rebate reduces on May 1. Note I wrote “reduces”. The rebate is declining, not disappearing.

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The Real Reason Behind The Long Wait On Battery Installs

Home battery lead times

The Cheaper Home Batteries Program is still booming, but long waits for installation are persisting — and it’s not because of battery stock shortages. Installers tell SolarQuotes the main bottleneck is having enough accredited workers to fit them. Inspections and approvals play a smaller role; the real limiter is installer capacity.

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Finally, Tesla Powerwall 3 Is Talking To Its Father

In a move widely wished and wildly anticipated, Tesla have finally answered the question all Powerwall 2 owners have been asking since August 2024: surely the new Powerwall 3 is compatible with the Powerwall 2? Well yes, it is now, almost.

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Huawei Battery Expansion? Talk To iStore Before Its Too Late


Do you own a Huawei hybrid solar inverter? Are you thinking of adding or expanding your battery?

This is a call for the 40,000 odd Huawei customers who probably don’t know they need to talk to iStore.

[Read more…]

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