Table of Contents
There’s few things likelier to make a workin’ man’s blood boil than a wealthy Millennial whining that he’s not getting more of other people’s money to fund is boutique lifestyle. Which is exactly what this is:
Have homeowners who were quick to adopt the federal government’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program ruined it for everyone else?
I’m reminded of George Carlin’s observation about the Boomers, the Millennials’ parents and spiritual mentors: whiny, narcissistic, self-indulgent people with a simple philosophy: “GIMME IT, IT’S MINE!” “GIMME THAT, IT’S MINE!”. Carlin barely lived to see the Millennials come of age: no doubt his assessment of these whinging grifters would have been even more excoriating.
Was there ever, after all, a more boutique, bourgeois obsession than ‘climate change’ and ‘Net Zero’? If the sight of private school toffs with hyphenated surnames isn’t enough to prove it, consider survey after survey, including a global poll, which regularly ranks ‘climate change’ last of issues of concern – if at all.
Yet, for this middle-class derangement, the rest of us are stiffed trillions in taxes. Not least in Australia, where two decades of upper-middle-class welfare have enabled the bourgeoisie to plaster their roofs in solar panels at taxpayers’ expense. Now, they and their Millennial children are demanding even more welfare – and screeching like banshees when someone else gets their hand in the taxpayer’s pocket first.
Before the program began on July 1, 2025, thousands of households were sitting on the fence waiting for home battery prices to drop and battery technology to mature. But the introduction of the 30 per cent rebate on home battery systems proved to be the tipping point.
Since the program commenced, more than 200,000 battery systems have been installed, against the government’s goal of two million households having systems installed by 2030.
Originally estimated to cost $2.3bn, the program’s funding was expanded in December to $7.2bn.
If you have any doubt this is middle-class welfare, ask yourself how many households have a lazy 30 grand to splurge on a battery system (which will need to be replaced in a decade, anyway)?
If you still don’t think this is a massive Ponzi scheme, consider how it actually works:
The system works by the government giving you Small-scale Technology Certificates when you purchase a home battery system. The bigger the battery, the more STCs you get, with one STC representing one megawatt hour of renewable electricity generated, stored or displaced by an eligible system.
When you purchase a home battery system, part of the process is to sign over the STCs to the installer in exchange for a discount on your invoice. The home battery installer then sells these STCs for $40 each to the STC Clearing House, which is run by the Clean Energy Regulator.
In other words, the bigger the battery, the more STCs you get and the bigger the discount the installer will offer on your home battery system.
Or, to put it in more honest terms: the richer you are, the more of other people’s money the government will shower on you. The more spare cash you have to splash on this season’s must-have middle-class accessory, the more working-class taxpayers will be forced to fund your boutique lifestyle.
Worse, to give the already-wealthy a new stream of unearned income.
Having a large battery system installed at my home recently, I opted for a large battery with a usable capacity of 46.8kWh so that I could sell excess energy back to the grid at night.
Does this bloke have the least idea how galling his entitlement complex sounds, to us working stiffs?
I received a further $2183 discount by selling the STCs on the additional 8.5kWh of solar panels I also installed at the same time, meaning the gross total cost of just over $40,000 came down to a net cost of under $25,000.
At which point, I had to stop reading before my blood pressure went through the roof. That’s $15,000 of our tax money that’s funding this grotesque entitlement.
