If you live in a regional WA town supplied by Horizon Power, the eastern-states VPPs are out, and so is Synergy's program. Your VPP is Community Wave, and it is not really a choice: since 1 July 2025 it applies to every new solar and battery installation in Horizon towns, and joining a VPP is also a condition of the WA Residential Battery Scheme rebate, which pays Horizon customers up to $3,800.
Community Wave also pays differently from almost every other VPP here. There is no per-event payment. Instead, members get Buyback Bonus export rates, set by your town's category and the season, and much higher from 3pm to 9pm than in the rest of the day.
Who it suits
- Horizon Power customers adding a battery, who will be on Community Wave either way.
- Households in Town A (Broome, Karratha, Port Hedland and others), where the Buyback Bonus lifts the summer peak rate well above the standard buyback.
- Batteries that can hold solar through the day and export into the 3pm to 9pm window.
Who should skip it
- Anyone on the Perth and South West grid. That is Synergy territory.
- Homes that cannot run a hard-wired internet connection to the gateway.
- People who want to export from the battery in the middle of the day. Battery exports are blocked from 10am to 3pm.
Horizon Community Wave at a glance
| Provider | Horizon Power |
| Plan | Horizon Power Community Wave |
| Status | Open. Free to join, and since 1 July 2025 it applies to all new solar and battery installations in Horizon Power towns. |
| States | WA |
| Networks / regions | Horizon Power's regional WA towns, outside the Perth and South West grid. Each town is classed A, B or C, which sets your buyback rates. |
| How it pays | Boosted feed-in: No per-event payment. Members get Buyback Bonus export rates set by town and season, from 3c off-peak up to 55.99c per kWh in the 3pm to 9pm peak. |
| Sign-up bonus | None. Free to join. |
| Control and reserve | Horizon can turn down your solar (on average by no more than 10% a year, it says). Batteries are set not to export between 10am and 3pm, or charge from the grid in the evening peak. |
| Contract and exit fees | Free to join. You can opt out of the Renewable Rewards by calling Horizon, but your system stays energy managed. We found no published contract term or exit fee. |
| Switch retailer? | You need to be a Horizon Power customer, which in its regional towns you already are. |
| State incentive link | Joining a VPP through your retailer is required for the WA Residential Battery Scheme, which pays up to $3,800 for Horizon Power customers. |
| Last checked | Sep 2026, against the provider's own pages |
How the money actually works
Community Wave members are paid Buyback Bonus rates for what they export, for 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. Off-peak is 9pm to 3pm and peak is 3pm to 9pm. In Town A, off-peak is 3.00c per kWh all year, and peak is 33.26c in summer (1 November to 31 March) but 10.00c in winter. In Town B it is 11.33c off-peak and 37.76c peak, all year. In Town C it is 16.80c off-peak and 55.99c peak, all year.
Here is the part most summaries miss. The Buyback Bonus rates in Towns B and C are the same numbers as Horizon's standard buyback scheme (DEBS), which is only open to solar systems of 5kW or less on certain tariffs. So in those towns the "bonus" is really about access: it extends those rates to battery owners and bigger systems. In Town A, it also lifts the summer peak from 10c to 33.26c.
The spread between peak and off-peak is the point. Midday exports earn little, evening exports earn a lot. A battery that stores solar through the day and exports after 3pm captures the higher rate, which is exactly the behaviour Horizon wants on its smaller regional grids. There is no sign-up bonus and no event payment. The money is all in the export rates.
Worked example: a Town A summer of evening exports
Built only from Horizon Power's published terms, with every assumption spelled out.
- Published: Town A summer peak (3pm to 9pm, 1 November to 31 March) buyback of 33.26c per kWh; off-peak 3.00c; Town C peak 55.99c.
- Summer is 151 days (1 November to 31 March, outside a leap year).
- Assumption: the battery exports 4kWh a day in the peak window after covering the house. That is our figure for illustration.
In Town A the winter peak rate drops to 10c, so the same exports from April to October earn far less. These are export earnings only, separate from the WA scheme rebate and from the federal battery discount, and they depend on how much your battery has left after covering your own evening use.
Which batteries work with Horizon Community Wave
This is Horizon Power's own compatibility list as published when we checked. Lists change, and it is often the exact model, inverter and firmware that matter, not just the brand, so confirm your system with Horizon Power before you count on the numbers.
- Compatibility is set by the inverter, which has to work with Horizon's Secure Gateway Device.
- Horizon lists specific models from Fronius (Symo, Primo, GEN24, Verto and others), GoodWe (ET and EH series), Growatt (MIN, MOD, MID, SPA and SPH series), Sigenergy (SigenStor EC) and other brands.
- A hard-wired internet connection is required. A gateway fee applies if your inverter is over 30kVA.
Read up on the brands we cover: GoodWe, Growatt, Sigenergy.
The catch: fine print worth reading first
- Solar can be turned down. Horizon says energy management should, on average, cut your solar generation by no more than 10% over a year, and it turns down its own solar and wind farms first.
- Battery rules are fixed. Your battery won't export between 10am and 3pm, and won't charge from the grid in the evening peak. Horizon's page gives that peak as 6pm to 9pm in one answer and 3pm to 9pm in another, so ask your installer which settings apply.
- Gateway and internet. You need Horizon's Secure Gateway Device and a hard-wired internet connection. Installation costs for the gateway are up to your installer, and a fee applies for inverters over 30kVA.
- Model-specific inverter list. A brand being listed does not mean every model is. Check your exact inverter against Horizon's list.
- Opting out is partial. You can opt out of the Renewable Rewards (including Buyback Bonus) by phone, but your system stays energy managed.
Other things to know
- Buyback Bonus rates apply from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. Summer runs 1 November to 31 March; winter runs 1 April to 31 October.
- Town A includes Broome, Carnarvon, Derby, Esperance, Exmouth, Karratha, Kununurra and Port Hedland. Town B includes Coral Bay, Cue, Denham, Leonora and Meekatharra. Town C includes Hopetoun, Laverton, Marble Bar, Menzies and a number of remote communities. Check the full list in Horizon's pricing factsheet.
- Horizon's Community Wave page mentions support of "up to $7,500" towards a battery. That appears to combine the federal discount with the state rebate. We show them separately: the state figure is up to $3,800 for Horizon customers.
How it sits next to your battery rebates
For Horizon Power customers, being in a VPP through your retailer is a condition of the WA Residential Battery Scheme, which pays up to $3,800 for Horizon customers. That rebate comes off your battery purchase. The Buyback Bonus rates are ongoing export earnings on your bill. They are separate numbers, and neither is combined with the federal discount. Horizon's own page quotes "up to $7,500" towards a battery; that looks like the federal and state support added together, which is why we show them separately.
We always treat these as separate numbers: the federal Cheaper Home Batteries discount comes off the battery invoice, any state incentive is its own amount with its own rules, and VPP payments are ongoing credits on your power bill. Check your state: WA battery rebates. Then run your own numbers in the savings calculator before you add any VPP income on top.
Alternatives worth comparing
- Synergy Battery Rewards (Synergy): the Perth and South West equivalent, paying 70c per kWh in events.
- Plico VPP (Plico): an independent WA VPP for Synergy customers, not available on Horizon's network.
Or see every plan side by side in our VPP plan comparison, and read how to compare VPP providers if you are weighing a few up.
Where these facts come from
We checked Horizon Power Community Wave against Horizon Power's own published pages and documents in Sep 2026. VPP offers get repriced often, so treat this as a starting point and read the current offer before you sign.