Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s multibillion-dollar Cheaper Home Batteries program was so over budget that the department warned its funding would run dry and the government quietly passed a regulation to take money from a different agency to pay for the green energy scheme.
The government in February signed off on rules that told the Clean Energy Regulator to disburse money and essentially fund the green energy subsidy.
Internal documents show that after the Climate Change and Energy Department had spent $1.7bn in 2025 and the first two months of 2026, it budgeted $418m more from the Clean Energy Regulator to top up funding until they expected parliament to appropriate more money for them in April.