By eleven, you're exporting.
Through the middle of the day a rooftop array generally makes more than the house is using. Without somewhere to put it, the surplus goes to the grid at whatever your retailer pays for exports, which for most households is well below what they charge to buy it back.
A battery is simply storage for that gap. Everything else about the decision follows from how big your gap actually is.
By six, you're buying it back.
Evening is when a house draws hardest, and by then the roof has little left to give. That overlap of high demand and low generation is the window a battery is bought to cover.
How much of that window you cover is the sizing conversation. It depends on your own load shape, what your roof actually produces, and whether the property is single or three phase.
There's already a battery in your garage.
An electric car is a large battery that happens to have wheels. Once one is parked at your place every night, charging stops being a fuel question and becomes a scheduling question: when it draws, and from what.
The charger you install is part of what decides how well that works. It is an electrical decision as much as a product one, covering circuit capacity, phase, switchboard position and the run to it.
What a battery quote should spell out.
Backup is a design choice
A battery does not automatically power the whole property during an outage. Backup depends on the selected inverter, battery, switching equipment and the circuits included in the design. Your written quote should identify what is backed up, the available power and any operating limits.
Federal battery discount
Eligible 5 to 100 kWh battery systems connected to new or existing solar may receive support under the Cheaper Home Batteries Program. Certificates currently apply to the first 50 kWh of usable capacity. Eligibility, approved-product status and discount value depend on the installation date, system design and current rules, so no fixed dollar amount applies.
Brands and system pathways
Some of the brands we work with include Sigenergy, GoodWe, Fronius, Sungrow, Tesla and Enphase. Exact models, compatibility, availability and current approved-product status are confirmed in the written quote. The right pathway may be a modular battery added to compatible solar, an integrated hybrid system, or a staged design that allows later expansion.
Warranty clarity
Manufacturer product warranties and installation workmanship are different. Your quote should identify the exact battery and inverter models, manufacturer coverage, registration requirements, exclusions and Becka Electrical's separate workmanship coverage. Australian Consumer Law rights apply in addition to manufacturer warranties.
Four things, and we can size it properly.
These are the inputs that change the answer:
A recent electricity bill. It shows your real usage pattern, not an average of someone else's.
Whether you already have solar, and roughly when it went on.
Single phase or three phase. It is marked on the switchboard.
Where the switchboard is, and what is between it and the garage.
What we assess
Existing solar and inverter compatibility
Daytime generation and evening electricity use
Switchboard and phase configuration
Suitable battery location and clearances
Essential circuits for any backup design
Future EV charging or system expansion