Australians use apps to track home solar & batteries

Australian households with solar panels and home batteries are increasingly using monitoring apps to manage their electricity use, a shift Nectr linked to rising battery adoption across the country.

The trend reflects a broader change in how some consumers engage with household power as rooftop solar and battery systems become more common. Real-time monitoring is prompting people to track generation, storage and consumption more closely, and to shift appliance use to reduce reliance on the grid.

Australia now has about 4.4 million homes with rooftop solar, while around one in 25 have a home battery installed, according to figures cited by Nectr. The company said 4.6% of homes now have a battery after a sharp rise in installations over the past year.

That growth has been supported by the federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program, which offers a discount of about 30% on upfront costs for systems from 5 kWh to 100 kWh. More than 183,245 battery units were sold in the second half of 2025 alone, which Nectr said the Clean Energy Council described as a fourfold increase on the same period a year earlier.

Nectr also pointed to a record 221,000 residential battery installations nationally in 2025, a threefold rise on 2024 that added 4,790 MWh of storage capacity. The increase in ownership is beginning to change household routines, with consumers using app-based data to decide when to run dishwashers, washing machines and device charging.

Changing habits

Rather than treating electricity as a fixed monthly cost, some households are managing it more actively. Monitoring apps typically show when peak use occurs, how much solar power is being stored or consumed, how much excess energy is exported to the grid and whether that export is generating bill credits.

In practice, this often means shifting electricity use into daylight hours when rooftop solar output is strongest, while preserving battery charge for the evening. For households with both solar and storage, that can reduce the need to draw power from the grid during higher-cost periods.

"Energy use has moved beyond being a habit, it's now a strategy," said Hayden Barry, Managing Director, Nectr. "We're seeing households approach their power use the way they'd approach a game. They track their numbers, chase a better score, and figure out how to beat yesterday's result. It's a genuine shift in behaviour, driven by better visibility over how energy is generated, stored and used."

The broader backdrop is continued pressure on household budgets. In that environment, app-based energy data appears to be giving some consumers a more direct sense of control over bills, especially where generation, storage and export can all be measured in near real time.

Rooftop solar accounted for 13.9% of Australia's electricity generation in 2025, according to the figures cited by Nectr. That has made residential solar a more visible part of the national energy mix, while battery uptake is adding another layer to how homes participate in it.

Consumer interest

Interest in further adoption also remains strong. Nectr cited research showing that 15% of Australian homes are currently researching solar, while another 23% are interested in getting a battery.

Battery ownership may also be adding a social element to energy use. Households are increasingly discussing how much solar they produce, how little power they import from the grid and whether they have generated credits on their account, according to the company.

"In a cost-of-living environment where every bill matters, giving people the tools to see exactly where their energy is going, and what it's costing or earning them, is incredibly powerful. It turns a passive monthly bill into something households can actively manage and improve, week to week," Barry said.

For energy retailers, the shift suggests consumers may be more engaged with data and more responsive to pricing signals than in the past. For the wider electricity system, higher levels of rooftop solar and storage in homes could affect when demand rises and falls, particularly during the evening peak.

While adoption is rising quickly, access remains uneven and upfront costs still present a barrier for many households. Even with government support, batteries remain a significant investment, and the benefits vary depending on a home's location, energy-use pattern and tariff structure.

Nectr argued that visibility is central to changing behaviour, particularly when users can see daily results rather than wait for a monthly bill. Immediate feedback is helping turn electricity use into something households monitor and adjust from one day to the next, it said.

"It's become a genuine talking point among friends and neighbours. People are proud of their numbers - how much solar they've generated, how little they've drawn from the grid, how much credit they've earned. That kind of engagement with something as everyday as a power bill just wasn't happening a few years ago," Barry said.

"Households are taking back control of their energy. That's a good thing for their budgets, and a good thing for the grid," he added.