Battery incentive, from 1 September 2026
From 1 September 2026 the New South Wales Peak Demand Reduction Scheme (PDRS) opens to battery storage under three new activities, BESS3, BESS4 and BESS5. Commercial, industrial and strata sites can claim a payment made in Peak Reduction Certificates, and their value comes off the price of your system.
Installs open 1 September 2026
The PDRS pays for cutting demand at the times the grid is under most strain, which in New South Wales is the evening peak. A battery charges when power is cheap and discharges into your site during those hours. The reduction it creates is measured and converted into Peak Reduction Certificates, and those certificates pay for the discount on your system.
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The portion of the battery's rated capacity the PDRS recognises, and the figure BESS4 and BESS5 are banded against.
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Installing new solar at the same time as the battery increases the rate paid.
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Peak Reduction Certificates trade at a market price that moves with supply and demand rather than being fixed by the scheme.
The incentive is for sites that are not residential dwellings, which in practice means commercial premises, industrial facilities, warehousing, manufacturing, cold storage, and the common property of apartment buildings.
Apartment buildings of four dwellings or more claim under BESS3. Business sites claim under BESS4 at usable capacity above 20 kWh and up to 200 kWh, or BESS5 above 200 kWh and up to 30,000 kWh with the incentive calculated on the first 10,000 kWh.
Sites with a battery already installed are generally not eligible, and installation must take place on or after 1 September 2026. Eligibility is confirmed at site assessment.
The PDRS splits battery storage into three activities. BESS3 and BESS4 cover the same capacity band and are separated by the type of site, not its size. BESS5 is the band above them.
BESS3, install a battery (apartments), applies to apartment buildings of at least four dwellings, at usable capacity above 20 kWh and up to 200 kWh. Certificate capacity is additionally capped at 5 kWh per dwelling, so a twelve unit building is capped at 60 kWh however large the battery installed.
BESS4, install a battery (small and medium businesses), applies to usable capacity above 20 kWh and up to 200 kWh. It is the band most retail, hospitality and light industrial sites fall into. The rate is tiered: below 50 kWh it carries a half factor, between 50 kWh and 100 kWh a 0.7 factor, and only above 100 kWh does it pay the flat rate. Undersizing therefore costs proportionally more than the capacity alone suggests.
BESS5, install a battery (commercial and industrial businesses), applies to usable capacity above 200 kWh and up to 30,000 kWh. The incentive is calculated on the first 10,000 kWh, so a battery larger than that still qualifies but earns no further certificates above the cap.
New solar is not required for any of the three. Where new solar is installed with a BESS4 or BESS5 battery it raises the rate paid, and under Equipment Requirement 4 it must be at least a quarter of the usable battery capacity. Undersized new solar fails that requirement, so a battery on its own is the better option where the roof cannot carry the array.
The inverter sets two limits on every activity. Usable capacity above six times the inverter output makes the system ineligible outright, and certificate capacity is separately capped at four hours of inverter output.
Peak Reduction Certificate prices are set by the market. As more batteries are installed the supply of certificates rises, and the value of each one moves accordingly. A site that installs early is exposed to a different market than one that installs later.
Installation capacity is also limited. Equipment lead times for larger systems run to several months, with network approvals running in parallel over a similar period. For a large battery the decision date and the installation date can sit a long way apart.
From a recent bill our engineers can read your tariff structure, demand charges, consumption profile and network, then size the battery to your site rather than to a round number. There is no cost for that review.
Send your most recent electricity bill to batteries@symmetrysolar.com.au and an engineer will come back with the confirmed figure, usually within one business day.
Attach my bill nowThe Peak Demand Reduction Scheme is a New South Wales government scheme that pays for reducing electricity demand during the evening peak. It is administered by IPART and pays in Peak Reduction Certificates. From 1 September 2026 it covers battery storage through three new activities, BESS3 for apartments, BESS4 for small and medium businesses and BESS5 for commercial and industrial businesses.
Site type first, then capacity. BESS3 is for apartment buildings of at least four dwellings. BESS4 is for small and medium business sites, and covers usable capacity above 20 kWh and up to 200 kWh. BESS5 is for commercial and industrial sites above 200 kWh and up to 30,000 kWh, with the incentive calculated on the first 10,000 kWh. BESS3 and BESS4 share the same capacity band, so the site decides, not the battery.
Peak Reduction Certificates trade on a market rather than at a fixed rate, so the value moves. The calculator shows the price it has applied to your result. Forward contracts have recently traded below spot, so what an accredited certificate provider will actually pay is usually lower than the spot figure.
No. Solar is not required for the commercial and strata battery activities. Installing new solar alongside the battery increases the rate paid, and a timing condition applies to that uplift, but a battery on its own can still be eligible.
No, they are separate schemes. The New South Wales incentive is a state scheme paid in certificates. Depending on the size of the system and the site, both may be relevant, and we work that through at assessment.
No. Certificates are created by an accredited provider, and the value is applied as a discount to your system rather than paid to you afterwards. The paperwork sits with the installer and the provider.
It applies the scheme's method to the figures you enter, so the certificate count is calculated rather than estimated. The dollar value depends on the certificate price used, which is a market figure that moves. The calculator shows the price it has applied.
That depends on your load profile and what you are trying to achieve, whether reducing demand charges, shifting consumption away from peak pricing, or both. Sizing to the incentive alone rarely produces the best commercial outcome.
Installations are eligible from 1 September 2026. Smaller systems can be delivered relatively quickly. Larger systems are built to order and involve network approvals, so lead times are considerably longer.
Our engineers confirm the figure against your load profile, tariff and network connection, at no cost and without obligation.
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