Check the government loan before the finance offer
A government loan is the only kind of solar finance that does not add to the price of the system. Every other option costs something, whether it shows up as interest, as a fee, or as a higher sticker price. So the order of operations is: take the rebates you are entitled to, check whether your state still lends, and only then look at commercial finance for whatever is left.
Do not confuse commercial interest-free finance with the interest-free loans available through state and territory governments. They are different things with the same words on the tin.
Government loans by state
Each row was read off the program's own page on 21 September 2026. Where a program has closed, the row says when and whether anything replaced it.
| State | Program | Amount | Interest | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | Home Energy Saver loan our guide | Up to $15,000 | Zero interest | Open |
| NSW | Empowering Homes battery loan | No longer offered | Was interest-free | Closed |
| VIC | Solar Homes interest-free loan our guide | Matches the rebate, up to $1,400 | Interest-free | Open |
| WA | WA Residential Battery Scheme no-interest loan our guide | Up to $10,000 | No interest | Open |
| ACT | Sustainable Household Scheme loan our guide | Up to $20,000 | 3% interest, no upfront costs or fees | Open |
| ACT | Home Energy Support zero-interest loan and rebates our guide | Rebates up to $5,000, plus a zero-interest loan up to $10,000 | Zero interest | Open |
| TAS | Energy Saver Loan Scheme our guide | Was up to $10,000 | Was interest-free | Closed |
| QLD | No Queensland government solar or battery loan was found on 21 September 2026. | None found | ||
| SA | No South Australian government household solar or battery loan was found on 21 September 2026; the state's business grant is closed. | None found | ||
| NT | No Northern Territory government solar or battery loan was found on 21 September 2026. | None found | ||
NSW: Home Energy Saver loan
Up to $15,000
Energy saving upgrades where the upfront cost is the barrier, rooftop solar and home batteries included. A separate Home Energy Saver discount of up to $4,000 is listed as coming soon.
Who qualifies: You must own the property. Open to homeowners and landlords with a combined household income of up to $210,000. The forthcoming discount targets homeowners and renters on up to $80,000 or an eligible concession card. Delivered by Brighte and Plenti, funded by the NSW Government. Applications open now, with no current closing date. NSW Climate and Energy Action, Home Energy Saver, verified 21 September 2026.
VIC: Solar Homes interest-free loan
Matches the rebate, up to $1,400
The household's share of a solar panel (PV) install, taken alongside the Solar Homes rebate of up to $1,400. From 1 May 2026 the loan must be selected when you apply, and no collateral is required.
Who qualifies: Combined household taxable income of all owners under $150,000 a year, and property value under $3 million. Delivered by Solar Victoria. Solar Victoria, solar panel (PV) rebate, verified 21 September 2026.
WA: WA Residential Battery Scheme no-interest loan
Up to $10,000
A home battery installed under the scheme, alongside the rebate of up to $1,300 for Synergy customers or up to $3,800 for Horizon Power customers.
Who qualifies: Households with a combined annual income under $210,000, an approved battery, an accredited installer from the scheme vendor directory, and a commitment to join a Virtual Power Plant product. Delivered by Plenti, for Energy Policy WA. Open. The scheme runs until all 100,000 planned rebates are distributed and was expected to be available until 2027. Energy Policy WA, WA Residential Battery Scheme, verified 21 September 2026.
ACT: Sustainable Household Scheme loan
Up to $20,000
Household battery storage, electric heating and cooling, hot water heat pumps, solar hot water, electric cooktops, electric vehicles and charging, ceiling insulation and electric cargo bikes. Rooftop solar panels are not on that product list; solar loans run through the Home Energy Support Program below.
Who qualifies: ACT residents who own a home (or hold a current driver licence, for an EV loan), with good credit history and the ability to repay without hardship. A free one-hour live workshop is part of the process. Delivered by Brighte, for the ACT Government. ACT Government, Climate Choices, Sustainable Household Scheme, verified 21 September 2026.
ACT: Home Energy Support zero-interest loan and rebates
Rebates up to $5,000, plus a zero-interest loan up to $10,000
Rooftop solar at 50% of supply and installation cost up to $2,500, plus another 50% up to $2,500 towards reverse-cycle heating and cooling, a hot water heat pump, evacuated-tube solar hot water, an electric cooktop or oven, or ceiling insulation. Batteries are not covered as a stand-alone item.
Who qualifies: ACT homeowner-occupiers holding a Pensioner Concession Card, DVA Gold Card or Health Care Card, who attend a free workshop and meet the property value thresholds (up to $750,000 unimproved value for most homes, $300,000 for multi-storey apartments). Delivered by Brighte, for the ACT Government. ACT Government, Climate Choices, Home Energy Support, verified 21 September 2026.
The two that have closed
- NSW, Empowering Homes battery loan. Not among the loans NSW lists today. The NSW loan on offer on 21 September 2026 is Home Energy Saver, above. NSW Climate and Energy Action, Home Energy Saver.
- TAS, Energy Saver Loan Scheme. Closed at 11:59pm on 1 September 2025 with funding exhausted, after supporting $62 million across 7,500 loans since October 2022. No replacement has been announced. ReCFIT (Tasmanian Government), scheme closure notice.
Two things follow from that list. Funding pools run out: TAS's scheme closed on 1 September 2025, the day the money did, not on a planned end date. And a closed program is often replaced rather than abandoned, which is what happened in NSW. So check the state page, not last year's blog post. Ours are here: ACT rebates, WA rebates, NSW, VIC and TAS.
Green loans and solar payment plans
Outside the government schemes, the money comes from a bank, a finance company or the solar retailer itself. We describe the product types rather than naming lenders or quoting rates, because a rate we cannot check on the lender's own page today is a rate that will be wrong by the time you read it.
Green loan
A loan offered by financial institutions specifically to finance environmentally friendly products, such as electric vehicles, water tanks and rooftop solar.
Who owns the system: You own the system from day one.
What to check: Green loans usually have lower interest rates than personal loans but stricter eligibility requirements. Ask about access, the rate, the loan term and any other fees.
Interest-free finance from a solar retailer
A payment plan offered by the retailer selling you the system, sometimes marketed as a solar payment plan or buy-now-pay-later style arrangement.
Who owns the system: You own the system, and you owe the retailer or its finance partner.
What to check: Although you do not pay interest, suppliers may charge more for the system and installation, and arrangements may carry loan servicing fees that vary by state. Compare the total payable against a cash price from the same installer, not against another finance offer.
Solar lease
The retailer pays for supply and installation at no upfront cost to you, and you repay the cost in monthly instalments over a term such as 5 or 10 years, after which you own the system.
Who owns the system: The retailer owns it during the lease; you own it at the end of the term.
What to check: Leasing repayments can carry high interest rates. If the system is for a business, lease repayments may be tax-deductible, which is a question for your accountant, not your installer.
Solar power purchase agreement (PPA)
A retailer installs and maintains the system and covers the cost; you pay an agreed rate per kWh for the electricity it produces. PPAs are often limited to systems above a minimum size, often 10 kW, and typically run 10 to 15 years.
Who owns the system: Usually the retailer, unless you negotiate otherwise. Who owns it decides who gets the certificates and the export credits.
What to check: What you pay over the life of the contract may be more than the cost of buying your own system. Check how the electricity price is indexed, how long the contract runs, who gets the export credits, whether you pay for all generation or only what you use, who maintains the system, and what happens if you exit early.
Environmental upgrade agreement (EUA)
A three-way arrangement between a finance provider, a building owner and a participating local government. The owner repays the loan through council rates as a special rate or charge.
Who owns the system: The building owner, with the loan attached to the property rather than the person.
What to check: Because the loan attaches to the property, the remaining liability passes to a new owner on sale, and a portion of the cost can be passed to tenants who benefit from lower bills. Availability and project eligibility vary by council, so check with your local government.
What to compare, whoever is lending
| Check | Why it decides the real cost |
|---|---|
| The comparison rate, not the advertised rate | A comparison rate is a percentage you can use as a guide to work out the true cost of a loan: it includes interest and most fees. |
| Fixed or variable | With a fixed rate your repayments stay the same for the life of the loan. With a variable rate they can go up or down as interest rates change. |
| Secured or unsecured | A secured loan uses an asset as security. Unsecured loans do not, and usually carry higher interest rates. |
| Every fee | Application, ongoing and missed-payment fees, early repayment fees and balloon payments all change what the loan really costs. |
| The term | Shorter terms can mean less interest overall. Longer terms may lower your repayments but increase the total cost. |
| Early payout | Fixed rate loans may charge a fee if you repay the loan early; variable rate loans often allow extra repayments without penalty. It matters, because solar bill savings are what most people use to pay a solar loan off early. |
Guidance from Moneysmart (ASIC), personal loans, checked 21 September 2026. We are not financial advisers and this is general information, not advice about your situation.
"Zero upfront" and "free solar" are finance, not a rebate
No one installs a system on your roof for nothing. An offer with no money down is one of three things: a loan or payment plan you repay in instalments, a lease where the retailer owns the system until you have paid it off, or a power purchase agreement where the retailer keeps the system and sells you its output per kilowatt hour. None of them is a government rebate, and the rebates are separate money that still applies.
Be wary of advertising from suppliers promising 'no cost solar' or 'low cost offers for a limited time'.
The overall cost of a solar power purchase agreement or solar leasing agreement is likely to be higher than if the system is paid for upfront.
With these agreements you are likely to be responsible for 2 electricity accounts: one from the electricity retailer and another from the solar system provider.
At the end of the contract, consider who owns the solar panel system and home batteries, and who is responsible for removing them. ACCC, purchasing a solar system , checked 21 September 2026.
The PPA case is the one people misread most often. A retailer installs and maintains the system and covers the cost; you pay an agreed rate per kWh for the electricity it produces. PPAs are often limited to systems above a minimum size, often 10 kW, and typically run 10 to 15 years. Who owns it at the end? Usually the retailer, unless you negotiate otherwise. Who owns it decides who gets the certificates and the export credits. That last point is the whole difference: if the retailer owns the system, the certificates and the export credits are theirs, not yours, and you are buying electricity rather than buying a system. It can still suit a business with no capital to spend, but it is not the same transaction as owning solar on your own roof.
Retailer "interest free" deserves the same second look. Although you do not pay interest, suppliers may charge more for the system and installation, and arrangements may carry loan servicing fees that vary by state. Compare the total payable against a cash price from the same installer, not against another finance offer.
Finance does not cost you the rebate
Both federal discounts survive a loan, because both are applied by the installer to the price of the system rather than paid to you. When you sign your contract with a solar retailer or accredited installer, you sign over ownership of the STCs in return for the discount, and the value of the STCs appears in your quote as a discount on the cost of your system. So the STC discount comes off the invoice first, and you borrow the balance. The federal battery discount under the Cheaper Home Batteries Program works the same way, applied by your installer at the point of sale. It steps down on a legislated schedule, from 6.8 certificates per usable kWh today to 5.7 on 1 January 2027, so the date your system is certified, not the date you arrange the finance, sets what you get.
The one real cost of borrowing is time. If you take out a loan to fund your solar system, your payback period, the time it takes to pay off your system, will probably be longer than if you pay the upfront cost yourself. A zero-interest government loan barely moves it; a plan that quietly adds to the system price moves it a lot. Run your own numbers against the price index and the rebate calculator before you sign anything.
Where the system is for a business, finance interacts with tax as well: lease repayments may be deductible, and an owned system is a depreciating asset. The detail, with the instant asset write-off thresholds, sits on our business solar rebates page.
Common questions
Can I get 0% interest on solar?
From a government program, sometimes. On 21 September 2026, NSW offered a zero-interest Home Energy Saver loan of up to $15,000 for rooftop solar and batteries, WA offered a no-interest loan of up to $10,000 towards a battery under the Residential Battery Scheme, the ACT offered a zero-interest loan of up to $10,000 for concession card holders through Home Energy Support (its general Sustainable Household Scheme loan is 3%), and Victoria offered an interest-free loan matching its solar panel rebate. From a retailer, treat "interest free" carefully: the Australian Government's own Solar Consumer Guide warns that although you do not pay interest, suppliers may charge more for the system and installation, and the arrangement may carry loan servicing fees. Compare the total payable against a cash price from the same installer.
Is it worth getting a loan for solar?
It depends on whether the repayment is smaller than the bill it removes, and on what the finance adds to the price. The Solar Consumer Guide puts the trade-off plainly: if you take out a loan to fund your solar system, your payback period will probably be longer than if you pay the upfront cost yourself. A zero-interest government loan changes that maths most, because it adds nothing to the cost of the system, which is why the state programs above are the first thing to check. With commercial finance, work out the total payable over the full term, compare it with the cash price for the same system from the same installer, and only then decide.
Which bank is best for a solar loan?
We do not recommend a lender, and we are not licensed to give financial advice. Compare them yourself on the things the regulator says decide the real cost: the comparison rate rather than the advertised rate, because it includes interest and most fees; fixed or variable; secured or unsecured, since unsecured loans usually carry higher rates; application, ongoing and missed-payment fees; the term, because a shorter term can mean less interest overall while a longer one lowers repayments and raises the total; and the early payout rules, since fixed rate loans may charge a fee if you repay early. Green loans are the category worth asking about, as they usually carry lower rates than personal loans but stricter eligibility. Source: Moneysmart and the Solar Consumer Guide, 21 September 2026.
Are there interest free loans for solar?
Yes, from state and territory governments rather than from the federal government. Open on 21 September 2026: the NSW Home Energy Saver zero-interest loan up to $15,000 for homeowners and landlords on a combined income up to $210,000; the WA Residential Battery Scheme no-interest loan up to $10,000 over up to 10 years for households under $210,000; the ACT Home Energy Support zero-interest loan up to $10,000 for concession card holders; and Victoria's interest-free Solar Homes loan alongside its rebate. Tasmania's Energy Saver Loan Scheme closed on 1 September 2025 and has not been replaced, and the NSW Empowering Homes battery loan is no longer listed. Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory had no household solar loan we could verify that day.
What we do, and what we don't
We are not a lender and not a broker. We check which rebates and government loans apply at your postcode and match you with one vetted installer, checked against the ABN record, who quotes with the federal discount already applied. If you want finance, that conversation happens with the installer or your own bank, and you should take the loan checks above into it. How the matching works, or start with your details.