alt.homelab
Following our recent discussions about solar and home assistant I have been wandering the tubes looking at the various options for solar, batteries and EVs. I had not heard of YEA and Marcus Lambert until the weekend.
Marcus is both informative and entertaining. He does not shy away from controversy and is happy to take on Finn Peacock from Solar Quotes for being too sensationalist. He keeps tabs on the industry, engages in in-depth discussions with retailers and product managers and indulges in speculation about the economics and politics of the privatisation of the Australian energy market.
@Belfry found that it was not possible to make the case for a home battery but I think this was prior to the advent of the federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program, which started on 1 July 2025. This has completely changed the economics of battery installation.
The scheme has proven to be wildly successful. So successful that it looked like the fund would blow its allotted $A2.3 billion several years early. On Saturday the Federal government increased the funding to $7.2 billion but made it progressively less generous. The new, less generous arrangements kick in on 1 May 2026.
In the early hours of Sunday morning Marcus got out a quick response to the announcement. He noted the financial issues the scheme was facing but also the politics of the reduction in Federal Energy Bill Relief fund and the various state based electricity bill subsidies that are also starting to phase out. Next year everyone’s electricity bill will be higher.
He thinks Federal Labor politicians are rightly concerned about the looming blackouts when coal fired power stations are closed in a few years. With no reliable base load generation the grid will become unstable and for a party that will have been in government for six to nine years by that stage the Labor Party will have only itself to blame.
Marcus postulates that at least some of the rationale for the government increasing and extending the scheme is that it can address this instability. For Chris Bowen, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, this is an environmentally friendly solution to a potential political nightmare.
The new amendments to the scheme do not stipulate that the battery should be part of a virtual power plant but Marcus postulates that the government will lean on suppliers to increase their feed in payments.
Unfortunately the plan is regressive in that it favours those already with a home on which they can install solar and a battery, but it does nothing for renters who are about to lose their electricity bill rebates. This is anathema to traditional Labor supporters who believe in giving the less well off benefits and not to property investors. The recent government first home buyers schemes has similarly been a boon to property owners and investors in raising house prices around the country while appearing to help the most needy. Politics is optics.
So should you go out and buy a battery? You’ll save money and if your energy conscious you may even make a bit, but more importantly its your patriotic duty to invest in batteries so you can do your small part in supporting the grid.