One Step Off The Grid

Tesla has unveiled a deal for South Australian customers that will cut around $2,000 off the price of a Powerwall 2 home battery system – but only for members of the company’s virtual power plant program.

The discount – which reduces the cost of a Tesla’s 13.5kWh Powerwall to $3,499 (plus installation) from its usual price in S.A. of $5,700, which is already less than half of the normal retail price elsewhere courtesy of the state government’s home battery scheme, which offers subsidies of up to $6,000.

South Australian solar households who sign up to the Tesla Energy Plan can get the heavily discounted battery after they access the state subsidy – in which Tesla has become the latest participant.

Tesla then offers these households “a brand-new type of energy plan” that promises no daily supply charge, $300-plus of savings a year, and the lowest energy usage rate in the market, on top of the usual solar feed-in tariff of 10c/kWh.

All this is run through Tesla’s retail and VPP partner, Energy Locals, who also connect the households to Tesla’s expanding Virtual Power Plant, which uses excess some solar generation to support the broader grid.

This VPP has ambitions to grow to 250MW, or 50,000 customers. The first and second trial stages – totalling 1,100 customers appears to be largely complete. This new offering also appears to be doubling as a test case for that expansion to the 250MW target.