With electricity prices on the rise and an uncertain future ahead for Australian electricity, it’s not surprising that more and more Aussies are looking at the option of home batteries. What is surprising is just how fast the market is progressing — batteries are rapidly coming down in price and the numbers suggest they aren’t just for early adopters anymore.

Before the Tesla Powerwall burst onto the scene less than two years ago, batteries were seldom considered an option for houses with solar panels, unless they were remote or off-grid. Powerwall installer Natural Solar says that only 2-3 per cent of customers even asked about batteries prior to 2015. “Since adding Tesla Powerwall to our energy storage range, the volume of consumer enquiries for battery power and Tesla Powerwall specifically has grown to more than 95% of customers,” explained Natural Solar CEO Chris Williams.

Even the difference between the first, somewhat experimental Powerwall and Tesla’s newer, bigger, better Powerwall 2 is clear. Williams sums it up quite succinctly when he says that the original Powerwall buyers were the early adopters, while their experiences have helped the Powerwall 2 hit the mainstream.

“This is exciting,” Williams said, “as it represents the typical Australian household and consumer, who are making educated decisions based on financials and are trying to offset the skyrocketing electricity bills expected to increase by 20 per cent in the coming weeks.”

While the Tesla brand has something to do with it, there are other reasons Australians have become so interested in powering their homes via batteries. Australian energy retailers recently announced an impending increase on the price consumers pay for electricity — in some places astronomically. On July 1, South Australia will overtake Denmark in having the world’s most expensive electricity. With some new Powerwall 2 customers expecting their power bills to come down to almost nothing, it’s not surprising to see more and more people looking to make that leap.

South Australians in particular have even more motivation to install batteries, in the wake of the state-wide power failures that happened last year. Demand in South Australia has increased by 300 per cent compared to the rest of Australia with 98.5 per cent of those wanting a power back-up in case of further instability. It’s not just households either — commercial enquiries for Natural Solar have seen an 800 per cent increase, with businesses wanting the option to keep their doors open and their lights on even when the grid is down.

Read more: Gizmod

The new rules will help households generate and store electricity and sell it back to the National Grid.

The first phase of a four-year £246m Government investment into battery technology has been launched in a move that could help bring down household electricity bills.

The long-term vision includes creating giant battery facilities around the National Grid to store excess wind and solar energy for when demand rises.

In addition, new rules will help households with solar panels to generate and store their own electricity with new battery technology and sell it back to the Grid when they do not need it. They will also reduce costs for people and businesses who power down appliances at peak times and use electricity at cheaper times.

The Government and Energy regulator Ofgem estimate that consumers could save between £17bn and £40bn by 2050.

Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark unveiled details of the first phase, known as the Faraday Challenge, on Monday.

This includes a £45m competition to establish a centre for battery research which he said would help make the UK a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of electric batteries. This will be spearheaded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to bring the best minds and facilities together to create a ‘battery institute’ to make products more accessible and affordable.

A three-month consultation earlier this year on an industrial strategy to increase UK productivity and growth attracted more than 1,900 written responses from businesses and organisations.

A shift to cleaner energy and technologies such as electric cars has made the design, development and manufacture of batteries a top industrial priority.  Mr Clark said:

“A smarter energy system will create new businesses and high-skilled jobs, while making sure our infrastructure is able to cope with demand.”

Gareth Redmond-King, head of climate and energy at WWF, said battery storage was a “game-changer” in the ability to produce clean power from renewables.

“These technologies give us flexibility to run on solar when the sun isn’t shining, and be powered by wind when it is still.

“It will support the transition to electric cars and enable our homes to be more efficient – which means cheaper, as well as cleaner and greener energy.”

Read more: Sky News

UK to pioneer energy innovation through batteries in homes as energy department announces £246m research funding

Batteries and renewable power sources are on the verge of bringing about an “epochal transformation” of the UK that could make energy clean, abundant and very cheap, according to a cabinet minister.

As the government unveiled plans for a more flexible energy system and £246m of funding for battery research, Greg Clark told the Guardian that a smarter grid would “radically” bring down bills.

“Energy, for the last 100 years, for good reasons, we’ve rationed the consumption of [because] it’s been very expensive and environmentally-damaging to consume fossil fuels. [But] given the possibilities we are on the cusp of at the moment, we might move to a world where energy is clean and abundant,”

said the business secretary.

Storing intermittent renewable power in batteries so it was ready when the grid needed it would bring down costs for everyone, including vulnerable and low income energy consumers, he said.

“If only we can capture it [power from the sun and wind] then we can go from energy being a worrying cost to people, to being, if not free, then very cheap,”

Clark said, speaking in Birmingham on Monday as he put energy at the centre of the government’s industrial strategy.

Read more: The Guardian