We kicked 2025 off with a bang as the federal government adds an additional $5 Billion to the home batteries program. This is massive news for all of those people who were worried about missing out. But as I predicted, the government can clearly see the benefits and have extended the program.
In other news there have been some recalls for battery products including Tesla and Sig Energy. So if you have these systems it would pay to touch base with your installer to see if you are affected by these recalls. With so much product being made globally its not surprising to see the odd recall and it’s good to see these companies taking things seriously and do the right thing.
Locally there is a lot of talk about the grid costs and ever-increasing service fee’s and tariffs and Smart meters being fitted. But more importantly the constant black outs and the time it is taking to resolve the issues. All driving the mood for energy customers to look closer at the battery rebates and off grid.
In our part of the world Ergon is our network provider and I recon they do a darn good job at trying to keep the network running it times of chaos. In early December there were some pretty nasty storms across a wide bay area and crews were stretched trying to reconnect power and make the network safe. As a rural fire fighter, I can tell you that we get called out in the dark of night to put out fires caused by lightning strikes and to clear away fallen trees. Even as the lightening is still cracking around we see the Ergon crews are out there in the wind and the rain trying to repair the network. I guess we are quick to stick it to them, but slow to offer them praise when they do us proud.
Off grid living is not for everyone. Some people just don’t want to make the adjustments to their lifestyle to go off grid. They want the ability to turn EVERYTHING on when they want. Anyone who lives off grid will tell you there is always a degree of compromise. For example, I can have the kettle and the microwave on, but I’ll have to wait before I put the washing machine on. Or the batteries are too low after three days of rain for a big cook up in the kitchen…so its green waste for tea tonight…again.
Now if your coined up, you can power a football stadium and not care. But for the vast majority of off grid customers that is not the case. Solar panels sizes are set to increase in capacity (for the same size panel) again in 2026. Several manufacturers are touting that once the current stock of 440W panels are sold they will introduce 470W panels in the same size. It’s amazing how they just keep getting bigger for the size year after year. But remember that bigger is not always better and you must carefully calculate the panels to the solar reg.
Typically, you can over size the solar wattage by 30% but you must never over voltage the solar reg. Sometimes the newer bigger panels can push us over the envelope into unhappy territory. So it’s best to run your numbers first.
At Childers Batteries we were honoured to receive the Chamber of Commerce award for fastest growing business of the year in our region and in 2026, we will continue to expand our Off Grid Living Centre. We could not achieve this growth without the amazing support of the Childers Community and we thank you all for your amazing support.
Megsy Out
Written by Jason Marshall
Chitchat Newspaper. January 2026.