Short answer: a home battery's unit price is only part of the story. The complete installed system — inverter (hybrid or AC-coupled), switchboard work, installation and metering — is what you actually pay. A 10kWh-class battery suits most Queensland households, and Queensland's sun fills it fast. Whether it pays off depends on your evening usage and peak tariff, so get the quote modelled on your bill, not on averages.
Unit price vs installed system: read quotes carefully
Hardware-only figures you see online leave out the parts that vary house to house:
| Quote line | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Battery unit | The storage itself, e.g. a 10kWh-class unit — the most common household size. |
| Inverter | Hybrid (solar + battery in one) for new systems, or AC-coupled where panels already exist. New inverter, new cost. |
| Switchboard work | Older boards often need upgrading first — see our switchboard guide. |
| Installation & metering | Mounting, wiring, metering changes, grid connection paperwork and certification. |
An honest quote itemises all four. A hardware-only number is a headline, not a price.
Are batteries worth it in Queensland?
They pay best when at least two of these are true:
- You use most of your power in the evening peak, when grid electricity is dearest
- Your feed-in tariff is low, so exporting spare solar earns little — storing it beats selling it
- You want blackout backup for storms (with backup circuits wired at install)
- You're adding an EV, which soaks up daytime solar and evening stored power alike
If you export most of your solar and buy little at peak, panels alone may still be the better return. We'd rather tell you that before you spend the money.
Sizing: bigger isn't automatically better
An oversized battery that never fills is money on the wall. Sizing starts with your bill: overnight baseload, evening peak usage, and whether you want whole-home or essentials-only backup. Most Brisbane households land around 10kWh of storage; larger homes with ducted air con or pools go bigger.
Related reading: EV charger installation costs, and our solar, battery & EV service page.
Separate the battery unit price from the complete installed system. The inverter (hybrid or AC-coupled), switchboard work, installation labour and metering changes all affect the final quote. A 10kWh-class system is the most common household size we install — ask for an itemised fixed quote, not a hardware-only figure.
They pay best for homes that use a lot of power in the evening, face high peak tariffs, or want blackout backup. Queensland's strong sun fills a battery fast; the payback question is how much of that stored power you'd otherwise have bought at peak rates. We model it from your actual bill before recommending a size.
There is no single statewide rate. South-east Queensland retailers set their own offers in a competitive market, while regional Queensland has a regulated tariff set annually — 8.66 cents per kWh for 2025–26. Always confirm the current rate for your financial year before doing payback maths.
No — the 44-cent Solar Bonus Scheme is closed to new customers. Existing eligible customers keep it only while meeting the scheme conditions, and it expires on 1 July 2028. Don't let anyone sell you a system on the promise of joining it.