Albanese, an Australian company, has pledged A$2.3 billion in order to assist homeowners with solar batteries

The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged A$2.3billion ($1.39billion) on Sunday to help homeowners purchase batteries to store solar energy and reduce their energy costs. This is a key issue for the 3 May general election.

Albanese’s center-left Labor is neck-and-neck with the Liberal-National Opposition led by Peter Dutton in opinion polls. Dutton has been campaigning on a plan for lower electricity bills by forcing LNG producers to divert some of their exports to domestic use.

Albanese announced in a Sunday statement that his proposal could save households up to A$4,000, or 30% of the cost installed for a typical energy storage battery.

The Prime Minister said that the battery would be installed in the home to store energy from solar panels and then used by the household when necessary.

According to the Australian government, one third of Australian households have solar panels. However, only one out of 40 houses has a battery.

David Littleproud, Nationals leader, told Australian Broadcasting Corp that the measure will only help "a few select individuals" and not much for renters or pensioners who are struggling with their electricity bills.

Gas exporters along Australia's eastcoast would be required to send 10% to 20% of their product to the home market under the plan. The conservative coalition is pushing for Australia to switch to nuclear energy in the long-term.

Albanese's personal approval rating is now close to that of Dutton. Dutton was a former policeman and defence minister of the previous conservative government.

(source: Reuters)