NSW incentives
Solar rebates in NSW, without the sales pitch
There is no NSW rebate on solar panels. The discount on a rooftop system is federal, and every installer in the state gets the same one. Batteries are where NSW adds money of its own, and there are two payments that stack.
What you can claim
Three schemes, and only two of them are money on your battery.
On your panels
Federalonly
A discount your installer takes off the invoice before you see a price. NSW pays nothing toward panels.
On your battery
~30%off
The federal Cheaper Home Batteries discount, off the installed cost of an eligible battery.
From NSW
On top
Paid for connecting that battery to a virtual power plant. Separate money, same battery.
Panels
Your panels: a federal discount, already in the price
Small-scale technology certificates are the mechanism. Your system creates a number of them based on its size, you assign the right to create them to your installer, and their value comes off your invoice. You never apply, and you never wait for money.
- It applies to the panels only. The battery has its own scheme
- The install has to be by a Clean Energy Council accredited installer to qualify
- Every installer gets the same certificates, so a price difference is never a rebate difference
- It steps down every January and the scheme ends in 2030, so the same system is discounted less next year
Batteries
Your battery: two payments, one battery
This is the part where NSW adds something of its own, and the two schemes are constantly confused with each other. They are separate money doing separate jobs, and most Parramatta households qualify for both.
Federal
Cheaper Home Batteries
~30% off
Certificates assigned to your installer, so it comes off the price rather than arriving later.
- 5 kWh to 100 kWh, with certificates on the first 50 kWh
- Must be capable of joining a virtual power plant, but you need not join one
- Steps down each year, like the solar certificates
New South Wales
Virtual power plant incentive
On top
Paid for connecting the battery to an approved VPP so it can be called on when the grid is stretched.
- Created against your usable capacity and passed through by the provider
- Eligible up to 50 kWh from 1 July 2026, which covers every residential size
- The contract sets how much of your battery the plant may use, and when
The NSW one is the part to read closely. It is paid once and the contract runs for years, so ask what happens to your own evening peak on the days the plant calls on you.
Western Sydney
What it is worth in Parramatta
Parramatta sits on the Endeavour Energy network, and that decides more about your economics than any rebate does. Power exported at midday is worth a few cents. The same power held until the evening is worth several times that, and the power you simply do not buy back at peak rates is worth more again.
Exported at midday
3.4 to 6.5c
IPART all-day benchmark
Held until 4pm to 8pm
16.9 to 19.9c
Endeavour evening benchmark
IPART benchmark ranges for 2026-27. Retailers are not obliged to offer either, so compare offers on the evening rate if you have a battery.
See the payback worked throughThe cost of waiting
You are already paying for a solar system. You are just paying your retailer.
Every quarter the bill goes out whether or not anything is on the roof. Set the slider to your own bill and the two bars are drawn to the same scale: ten years of that bill against what the panels cost once.
Drag it to your own bill. Both bars move, and both are real numbers rather than a forecast: one is your bill, the other is our published starting price.
Ten years of bills, if nothing changes
$26,000
$2,600 a year, held flat for 10 years
6.6kW solar, once
$4,500
Published starting price, paid once
The panels cost about 1.7 years of your current power bills, against the 10 you are going to pay anyway.
What this is not: solar does not remove your bill. How much of it goes depends on your roof, your shading and when you actually use power, and that is what a site assessment works out rather than a slider. The bars compare two real numbers in proportion: your own bill over ten years, and our published starting price for the panel size that covers your usage. That shows you the scale of one against the other. Bills are held flat, which understates the left-hand bar. Starting prices are for a standard single-storey install and your final price is confirmed in writing.
Before you sign
How to tell a real incentive from a sales line
Every scheme on this page is public and none of them is exclusive to any installer. If a quote treats an incentive as something they secured for you, that is a sales line rather than a discount.
| What you are told | What is actually true |
|---|---|
| A government rebate covers your panels | There is no NSW panel rebate. The discount is federal certificates, and every installer gets the same ones. |
| We can get you extra rebates | Nobody can. The schemes are set by rule, not negotiated per customer. |
| The rebate ends this month, sign today | The certificates step down in January and the scheme ends in 2030. Anything more urgent than that is pressure, not a deadline. |
| The NSW battery rebate pays $X | NSW pays for connecting to a virtual power plant. The value depends on your capacity and your VPP contract. |
Checked against the Clean Energy Regulator, the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, energy.nsw.gov.au and IPART on 31 August 2026. No dollar figure is printed on this page because the certificate value moves week to week. Your written quote sets each incentive out as its own line, against the rules on the day it is issued. Sizes and starting prices are on the system sizes page.
Before you book
Rebate questions we get asked
The ones that come up on nearly every first call, answered straight.
Not on the list? Call 1300 958 778 or send it through.
Is there a NSW government rebate for solar panels?
No. There is no NSW rebate for rooftop panels. The discount on a solar system in NSW comes from the federal small-scale technology certificate scheme, and it is taken off the price by your installer before you pay. NSW does have a battery incentive, but it pays for connecting a battery to a virtual power plant rather than for buying one.
How much is the solar rebate in Parramatta?
It depends on your system size and on the certificate price on the day, and it steps down every January. Because it is deducted from your invoice rather than paid to you, the honest answer is that it is already inside any price you are quoted. Ask for it as a separate line so you can see it.
Do I have to apply for the rebate myself?
No. You assign the right to create the certificates to your installer and they handle the paperwork. If someone tells you to apply for a solar rebate through a government portal, they are describing a scheme that does not exist in NSW.
Can I get the federal battery discount and the NSW one together?
Yes. They are separate schemes doing separate things. The federal Cheaper Home Batteries discount comes off the purchase price. The NSW incentive is paid for connecting that battery to an approved virtual power plant. One battery can attract both.
Does a battery have to join a virtual power plant?
To attract the NSW incentive, yes. To attract the federal discount, the battery has to be capable of joining one, but you are not required to sign up. Plenty of households take the federal discount and stay off a VPP because they would rather keep the whole battery for their own evening.
Is it worth waiting for a better rebate?
No, and this is the one place the urgency is real. The solar certificates a system creates drop at the start of each calendar year and the scheme is legislated to end in 2030, so the same system is discounted less next year than this year. Nothing announced makes waiting pay.
What is the feed-in tariff in Parramatta?
There is no set rate. IPART publishes benchmark ranges as guidance and retailers are free to ignore them. For 2026-27 the all-day benchmark is 3.4 to 6.5 cents a kilowatt hour, while the evening benchmark on the Endeavour Energy network that covers Parramatta is 16.9 to 19.9 cents between 4pm and 8pm. Compare retailer offers on the evening rate if you have a battery.
Get it priced with the incentives itemised.
Send the address and roughly what your quarterly bill runs to. You get a system size, a price and a payback figure in writing, before you commit to anything.