Battery rebates, Ergon's Solar Soaker tariff, and what 'blackout backup' actually means in the Whitsundays

If you’ve been pricing solar lately you’ve probably noticed batteries got a fair bit cheaper overnight. That’s not a sales pitch. There’s a federal rebate that kicked in last July and combined with how Ergon’s pricing power up here lately, the numbers genuinely changed.

Quick rundown of what’s going on, what it means for a Whitsundays house, and why I tell people that batteries and “blackout backup” are two different conversations.

The federal rebate, in plain English

The Cheaper Home Batteries Program started 1 July 2025. It takes about 30% off the upfront cost of an eligible battery. Two things worth knowing:

It’s claimed at the point of sale. You don’t pay full whack and wait for a refund. We just deduct it from your quote.
It runs until 2030 but the discount tapers down each year. Sooner is better than later.

Eligibility comes down to the battery brand being on the approved list, the install being signed off by an accredited installer, and a few paperwork bits we sort out for you. The Sungrow batteries we put in are on the eligible list.

Exact dollar amount comes off the quote when I work it out for you. Won’t quote a figure here because it depends on your system size and the current rebate rate. All rebate amounts indicative only and depend on current government rules.

The Ergon tariff reality up here

We’ve only got Ergon for retail electricity in regional Queensland. No competing retailers, no Amber Electric, no spot-market trickery. So the maths is simpler than it is down south.

The two residential setups that matter most for solar households:

Tariff 11 (flat). Same rate all day, around 36c/kWh inc GST in 2025-26. Battery’s job here is straightforward, soak excess solar through the day, run the house off battery after dark.

Tariff 12E (“Solar Soaker”). Needs a smart meter. Three time blocks:

11am to 4pm: dirt cheap. About 7c/kWh. The daytime sponge window where Ergon actively wants you using power.
4pm to 9pm: peak. This is where it bites. Around 57c/kWh in 2025-26. Most households otherwise hammer the grid for AC and cooking right in this window.
All other times: shoulder. Around 26c/kWh, still meaningfully cheaper than flat T11. People often miss this bit.

That third point is the kicker. Even outside the cheap window and the peak window, you’re paying less per kWh than you would on flat T11. So 12E with a battery is a strong play because (a) the battery dodges the 4-9 peak entirely (and that peak is the whole reason 12E pays off), (b) the shoulder hours are already cheaper than flat anyway, and (c) the 11-4 sponge window is dirt cheap if you ever need to top up the battery from the grid.

Worth knowing: the QCA has flagged a meaningful drop to the 12E peak rate from 1 July 2026 (down to roughly 46c/kWh inc GST). I’ll write that up properly closer to the changeover. The shape of the tariff doesn’t change, just the numbers.

There’s also a similar but less aggressive Ergon TOU tariff for households without that much load shape variation, also smart-meter only. We can talk through which one suits you when I look at your bills.

What about feed-in?

The Ergon feed-in tariff for 2025-26 sits around 8.66 c/kWh. From 1 July 2026 the QCA has flagged a drop to roughly 6.15 c/kWh, tracking the falling wholesale price of midday solar.

Compare that to what you pay to import power back in the evenings (around 57c/kWh during the 12E peak, around 36c/kWh on flat T11) and you can see the gap. That gap is exactly what a battery closes. Every kWh you store and use yourself instead of exporting is worth the difference between those two numbers. With the 12E peak that gap is huge.

So what does it actually save?

Won’t quote a specific dollar figure because it comes down to:

Your current power bill
Roof, panel size, shading
How much of your usage is daytime vs after dark
Which tariff you’re on
Whether you’ve got a pool pump, EV, aircon habit

A typical Whitsunday household with a 6.6 to 10 kW solar system and a 10 to 13 kWh battery generally drops their bill well below where solar alone got them, especially on Tariff 12E. All savings figures indicative only and subject to on-site assessment of your property and current Ergon rates.

The way to get a real number is for me to come look at your roof and your last few bills. That part’s free.

Blackout backup is a separate question

This is the bit most people don’t realise. A battery on its own does not give you blackout backup.

A standard grid-tied solar system shuts off when the grid drops. That’s a safety thing. The inverter has to disconnect so a lineman repairing the wires doesn’t get electrocuted by your panels feeding power back. Adding a battery doesn’t change this on its own.

To actually keep your fridge and lights on during a blackout you need three things together:

A hybrid (or backup-capable) inverter. Most “solar inverters” can’t do this. Hybrid ones can.
A dedicated backup circuit. We wire a sub-board with the loads you want backed up. Fridge, lights, a few power points, maybe the AC.
A battery with enough headroom to actually carry those loads through the night.

We use Sungrow hybrid inverters because they handle this cleanly. When the grid drops, the system reconfigures within milliseconds and your backed-up circuits keep running off the battery. Your unbacked circuits (full-house aircon, oven, electric hot water) stay dark. That’s the trade-off. You can’t run everything off a household battery but you can keep the important stuff alive.

In cyclone season this matters. We’ve had power outages here run from a few hours to several days. Battery plus hybrid inverter means your fridge contents survive, your phone charges, your lights work.

The cheap upgrade most people miss: smart switches

You don’t always need to buy more battery to get more out of solar. Often the win is shifting your big loads to run during the day when the sun’s hot.

We can wire your hot water, pool pump, EV charger, or aircon to a smart relay so they only run when the panels are pumping (or when the battery is full). For the smart-switch options we like (Shelly), you also get app control. Flick things on or off from your phone, see what’s drawing power.

A few hundred bucks per relay vs a few grand for more battery. On anything that runs daily, it pays for itself fast.

What we use, and why

To save you the speeds-and-feeds research:

Panels: LONGi. One of the biggest tier-one manufacturers in the world. Strong warranty, proven in tropical conditions. Hi-MO range.

Inverter: Sungrow. Hybrid-capable so a battery can be added later without swapping the inverter out. Handles the blackout backup story above. Solid local support.

Battery: Sungrow. Modular stack. Start with what you need now, add more modules later if your usage grows. On the rebate eligible list.

If a different brand suits your specific situation better, say you’ve got an existing inverter we want to keep, or special needs around three-phase, I’ll tell you straight. But for a fresh install in a Whitsundays house, this is the combo I trust.

Bottom line

Batteries are worth a fresh look right now. The federal rebate makes the maths different than it was two years ago. If you’re on Tariff 12E there’s a peak window worth dodging. Either way the falling feed-in rate makes self-consumption more valuable than exporting. And if blackout backup matters to you (it should, in cyclone country) make sure whoever you talk to spec’d a hybrid inverter and a dedicated backup circuit, not just a battery.

If you’ve already had a quote from someone else and want a free second opinion from a sparky who used to install for the big guys, send it through here or give me a call on 0410 454 044. I’ll give you an honest read.

Madison