Batteries for the Rich? As renters are Scammed – A Solar CEO Reflects on Labor’s Latest Rebate
2025 Labor Battery Rebate Scam The 2025 Smart Energy Conference in Sydney kicked off with all the fanfare you’d expect from an industry on the rise. New booths. New tech. New money. And politics, of course. The federal government’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program was the centrepiece — a headline-grabbing announcement dropped by Labor’s Energy Minister on a Sunday morning, then brought to life the following day in a packed hall filled with installers, suppliers, and solar executives like myself. It opened with a Welcome to Country — a gesture of respect that’s become standard at public events — and then, without missing a beat, delivered the government’s big election-season offering: a national rebate to get batteries into Australian homes. It landed exactly as intended. The room burst into applause. Smiles all round. Media took notice. And yet, behind the handshakes and excitement, a harder question lingered in the air —….








