Home battery installations are growing across NSW, but getting the most out of a battery comes down to more than just storing solar.
Wholesale electricity prices in NSW can vary significantly throughout the day, creating opportunities for batteries to charge when energy is cheap and use or export stored energy when prices rise. Whether a battery can respond to those movements depends on the battery plan it's connected to.
NSW leads the country for home batteries installed under the Cheaper Home Batteries Program. By the end of June 2026, AEMO counted 4,865 MWh of capacity in NSW, ahead of Queensland (2,570 MWh) and Victoria (2,508 MWh). As more homes install batteries, choosing the right battery plan becomes increasingly important.
Your battery might be doing less than it could
Many home batteries paired with rooftop solar operate in self-consumption mode. They store excess solar energy during the day, then power the house after dark so you buy less electricity from the grid. It's a straightforward way to lower your bills, but batteries can also charge directly from the grid, depending on the system.
Basic self-consumption mode doesn't respond to what's happening in the wholesale market. It can't anticipate when electricity prices will fall or rise, so it may miss opportunities to charge when prices are low or export when they're higher. That's where the plan and automation behind your battery matter.
Why a fixed plan limits what your battery can do
On a traditional electricity plan, you generally pay a set rate for the electricity you use and receive a fixed feed-in tariff for what you export. That gives households more predictable pricing, but it also means the value of your battery's exports doesn't change when wholesale prices do.
If your feed-in tariff is 4c per kilowatt hour, for example, you receive the same rate whether electricity is cheap or wholesale prices are climbing. A fixed plan can still help you save by using more of your own solar energy, but it doesn't give your battery access to changing wholesale prices.
It's also worth reviewing your plan regularly. The ACCC's December 2025 report found that NSW households on flat-rate plans more than three years old faced calculated annual prices $303 higher on average than those on newer plans.
Prices swing both ways in NSW
NSW regularly sees periods of low wholesale electricity prices, particularly when solar generation is high. AEMO recorded negative prices in 9% of five-minute periods between 9am and 5pm during the June quarter of 2026, down 10 percentage points from the year before. More batteries charging during the day have helped absorb some of that excess energy.
Prices can also rise quickly when demand increases or electricity supply is constrained. On Monday 12 October, a combination of hot weather, coal generator outages and transmission constraints pushed NSW wholesale prices to around $23.11/kWh.
Amber co-CEO Dan Adams told the ABC that around 30,000 Amber customers earned approximately $2 million in two hours. Events like that don't happen every week, and there's no guarantee of major price spikes, but they show what a battery can do when it's able to respond to wholesale prices.
What Amber does differently
Amber's battery plan gives customers access to wholesale electricity prices, without adding a markup to the energy they buy or sell. Our margin comes from a flat $25 monthly subscription, rather than the difference between wholesale and retail electricity prices. That means customers receive the wholesale value of their battery exports, including when prices rise.
SmartShift, our battery automation technology, uses forecasts of wholesale prices, household electricity use and solar generation to work out when to charge, store, use or export energy. It helps lower electricity costs and respond to price movements without customers having to manage their battery throughout the day.
Customers can leave SmartShift running automatically or override its decisions whenever they choose. That's an important distinction from many traditional virtual power plant (VPP) offers, which may provide fixed payments, bill credits or other incentives for participating. While rewards and levels of control vary between providers, Amber customers retain control of their battery and receive wholesale export prices.
Why battery automation makes sense in NSW
On a wholesale battery plan, automation can help households respond to changing electricity prices without having to watch the market themselves. A battery can charge when prices are low, use stored energy to avoid expensive grid imports and export when wholesale prices make it worthwhile.
Wholesale pricing works both ways, so customers are exposed to higher prices as well as lower ones. How much value a battery can deliver depends on factors including its capacity, household energy use, solar generation, export limits and network tariffs.
You can check if your battery is compatible with SmartShift here.
Is your battery on the right plan?
A home battery can already help lower your electricity bills by storing energy for later use, whether that's electricity from your solar panels or the grid. But the plan it's connected to can make a significant difference to what it can do beyond that.
If you already have a home battery, it's worth checking whether your electricity plan is helping you get the most out of it.
Get a quote with Amber and see how the right battery plan could help you get more from your home battery.
