How customers choose
a solar installer.

Almost nobody wakes up wanting a battery. Something sets it off: a winter bill that's double what they expected, a neighbour in Kariong who says theirs pays for itself, or a news story about the rebate changing. By the time they search, they already have a reason, and usually a deadline in their head.

A growing share are already solar owners. The CER found 27% of rooftop solar installations in early 2026 were replacements, up from 19% a year before, and more than 80% of systems installed in April 2026 came with a battery. So a typical buyer now isn't asking 'should I get solar?'. They're asking 'should I add a battery, and do I need new panels while I'm at it?'.

That changes the marketing. A page aimed at first-time buyers, with a sunny stock photo and 'go green' in the headline, misses the person who has had panels on the roof since 2012 and wants to know what a battery will do with them.

They already have a reason. Your job is to be the clearest answer.

Getting several quotes is the standard advice, and it comes from the regulator, not just from comparison sites. The CER's battery page says to get multiple quotes and compare the systems being offered, and to ask the retailer to show the battery is on the Clean Energy Council's approved list.

Once three quotes are side by side, buyers usually line up the same handful of things: the total after the discount, the battery's usable capacity, the brand, the warranty, and when the job can happen. The installer whose quote makes those easy to find has a head start, because a confused buyer either delays or picks the quote they understood.

The New Energy Tech Consumer Code asks its signatories for exactly this. SolarQuotes' summary of the code says quotes and contracts must be clear and comprehensive, with no hidden costs, including the expected performance of the system. If you're an approved seller, that's a requirement. If you're not, it's still what wins.

Enter your quote and two typical competitor quotes. The comparer works out the cost per usable kWh, the cost per warranty year, and how much of each price is the federal discount, using the CER's factor for installs to 31 December 2026.

From 1 May 2026, the battery discount stopped growing evenly with size. The CER now applies the full factor to the first 14 kWh, 60% from 14 to 28 kWh and 15% from 28 to 50 kWh. Before that, a bigger battery simply meant a bigger discount, and buyers responded: the average battery reached 30.6 kWh of usable capacity in early 2026.

After the tiers started, sizes came back down, to about 23 kWh in May and June, from 36 kWh in April. That tells you how many buyers had been sold on the size of the discount rather than the size of their evening use.

For marketing, the shift is useful. 'What size do I actually need?' is now one of the first questions people ask, and the installer who answers it from the household's own bills looks like an adviser, not a salesperson. Put a plain sizing explanation on your battery page, and in the first conversation.

The ACCC's July 2026 research paints a grim picture of how some solar gets sold. About 40% of recent purchasers regretted their purchase, more than 60% had problems with it, and 80% agreed unsolicited selling rarely gives useful information. Some small solar businesses told the ACCC that up to 80% of their sales came from unsolicited selling.

Every buyer who has had a pushy door-knocker in Lake Macquarie or a cold call during dinner in Penrith brings that memory to your quote. You don't fix it with a badge. You fix it by being checkable.

Checkable means the licence number on every page and ad (NSW requires the licensee’s name and number in all advertising for electrical work, and buyers can look it up on Service NSW), real photos of real installs, a street address, and New Energy Tech Approved Seller status if you hold it. It also means no 'sign today' price. Pressure is the thing buyers are scanning for.

The CER is blunt about this: rebates are determined by the installation date, not when a contract is signed. It told retailers not to promise installs before a change unless they're certain they can do the work in time.

The next change is 1 January 2027, when the factor falls from 6.8 to 5.7 STCs per usable kWh. On a 13.5 kWh battery that's roughly 15 fewer certificates, worth around $560 at $38 each. A buyer who signs in November for a February install should know that before they sign, not after.

So put the install window on the quote, say what happens to the price if it moves, and follow up when it's booked. It answers the worry before it's spoken, and it's exactly what a buyer comparing three quotes notices.