Does Solar & Battery Storage Affect Home Insurance?⚡2025
Posted 29 Apr
Posted 29 Apr
Let’s be real, finding the right insurance can be a huge burden, especially if you don’t have the time or energy to do the research into who covers what. This is amplified when there is limited information on coverage like solar and battery systems.
For homeowners researching home insurance options that cover solar PV and energy storage systems, there may be concerns around how insurance policies cover solar and battery installations, whether your existing insurer covers them, or if your insurance costs will increase.
To save you time, we’ve condensed hours of research into an easy-to-digest article.
Home insurance policies typically do get more expensive after solar and battery storage installations, as the policy will need to accommodate the value of your system for full coverage.
The cost of home insurance will vary depending on the solar and battery system installed, the chosen policy, and its coverage & requirements. This usually isn't a dramatic increase and is worth it to ensure your systems are covered for storms etc.
Not all home insurers automatically cover solar and battery systems, which are generally covered under home building insurance as they’re considered a permanent fixture to the home.
We asked Budget Direct what their solar and battery systems coverage was.
“Solar panels and its accessories are covered under home building insurance. All you need to do is make sure that the home build sum insured amount is enough to cover the solar panels. You can add the solar panels value to your building cover amount if you happen to install them after you have secured your policy.”
Based on our research, a lot of other insurer policy documents are relatively vague in how they refer to solar and additional solar components.
Based on current product disclosure statements, here is a comparison table of some home insurers and their coverage of solar and battery storage.
| Home Building Insurance Provider* (PDS) |
Solar Coverage** |
Battery Coverage |
Policy Upgrade Required |
|
Coles Home & Contents Insurance
Policy |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
Budget Direct Home & Contents Insurance
Policy |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
AAMI Home Building Insurance |
Yes |
Not specified |
No |
|
Honey Household
Insurance Policy |
Yes |
Not specified (only mentions ‘solar appliances’) |
No |
|
Westpac Home & Contents
Insurance |
Yes |
Not specified |
No. (Optional add-on for up to $5000 system upon complete home rebuild and approval). |
*These insurers will have their own requirements and policies around solar and energy storage coverage; it is your responsibility to
research and read relevant documentation before any purchases. This table indicates general coverage and not specifics.
**Note: Most insurers don’t cover light surface hail damage, only fractures through the entire thickness of the solar panel’ glass.
Solar battery energy storage systems (BESS) are generally considered to be a fixed part of the home, meaning that they are typically covered under home building insurance policies.
For example, Budget Direct defines ‘energy storage systems’ to be:
‘Any permanent device or system, such as batteries, cabinets, control systems, and their parts, that is both:
This does not include dams or other non-battery storage systems.’
Contrary to the Australian media, solar and battery systems are not considered ‘high-risk’ home additions. Whilst insurance costs could increase with solar and battery system installations, this doesn’t reflect the danger potential, but instead the value addition to your home so you can make a claim if required.
According to a well-known insurer in their product disclosure statement, they identify the risks of lithium battery fires in their policy document. However, no information is mentioned on home energy storage specifically which indicates that insurers don’t consider ESS a high-risk addition.
To ensure your energy storage system is safe and fully-covered under insurance, make sure the battery system is compliant with Australian standards and regulations, installed by SAA accredited battery installers, and that your policy definitely covers battery energy storage systems (BESS).
Yes, notifying your insurer of any new solar and/or battery systems is important to ensure your system is fully covered. If your existing policy does not mention of cover solar or ESSs, we really recommend finding an insurer who clearly covers your renewable energy systems.
According to a large insurer's PDS, they only mention coverage for solar panel breakage, where they cover replacement costs if the glass if fractured through the ‘entire thickness’. There is no mention of any other solar or energy storage coverage in this policy.
Whilst most insurance providers don’t typically check whether your solar or battery system was installed by a Clean Energy Council (CEC) / SAA-accredited installer, proper installation is important, especially when you need to make an insurance claim.
If the system fails to meet Australian standards, as well as installation and safety requirements, your insurer may have the right to deny your claims for reasons like;
This really depends on what insurer and policy you choose as coverage varies company to company. However, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself from this scenario:
Choosing a SAA Accredited installer ensures they are fully qualified to conduct quality solar installations that meet Australian standards. Claiming STC’s (solar discounts) can only be claimed by SAA accredited designers and installers.
After your solar system installation has been completed, your installer should provide you with a handover pack which includes access to site-specific information, as well as warranty and datasheet documentation.
By understanding your policy’s coverage, you will know what your system is covered and not covered for.
Adhering to these requirements ensures you have the best chance of successful claims.
We conducted a sample quote to see how insurers determine the solar and battery value thinking that they may ask a few questions on home addition values, but they only referred to the ‘home rebuild cost’ and ‘contents replacement cost’.
Depending on the insurer and policy, your solar panels, inverter, and other components like energy storage should be included in the total home value to ensure it covered in the total insured sum amount.
Using a few home insurance calculators, there are options to add a solar system to the total rebuild value. When answering with a yes to the question ‘does the property have any solar panels’ compared to the value without, the difference was about $10,000-$15,000 of a home value range of $394k - $518k. However, this doesn’t count the value of home battery storage.
No, house insurers don’t typically cover solar and/or battery system failure. Instead, this should be covered under your installer’s workmanship warranty, or manufacturer's warranty to replace faulty components.
For installation issues, your SAA-accredited installer should have workmanship/labour warranty which provides replacement and installation for faulty installations. For example, we offer 10 years’ labour warranty on solar and battery installations.
For issues where a system component fails, the manufacturer of the faulty component is responsible for sending out a replacement, where they may pay for the replacement labour depending on the manufacturer.
In situations where your panels have been installed, and a storm heavily damages your solar panels, you can make an insurance claim to cover the panel replacement costs if you have eligible coverage.
It is important you choose companies and brands that have years of recognition and that are financially stable to ensure they can honour
warranties and claims.
For homes that have installed a dedicated level 2 home electric vehicle charger, it is also recommended that you include it in your total house value to ensure the charger is fully covered under your policy. Level 1 electric vehicle chargers won’t be included under building insurance as they’re not permanent fixtures of the house.
Most home insurance policies don’t cover parked vehicles on the property. This includes electric vehicles.
When installing a solar and/or energy storage system, your premium will most likely go up to accommodate the additional value to your home. However, considering the benefits of solar and battery storage, the benefits greatly outweigh the increased insurance costs.
Whilst you can get free quotes on insurance policies, we also provide free energy assessments and quotes to help you make the best decisions possible, and whether a solar and battery system is right for you.
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