If you own a Powerwall and remember the Tesla Energy Plan, that is gone. It was a partnership with Energy Locals and it closed to everyone on 30 September 2025, with Powerwalls pulled out of that virtual power plant. In 2026 Tesla came back as a retailer in its own right, selling electricity as Tesla Electric through Tesla Energy Ventures Australia. Its battery plan is called Tesla Electric Dynamic.
The pitch is simple: Tesla buys your exports at 90% of the live wholesale price and its software decides when your Powerwall charges and discharges to make the most of that. The trade is equally simple. You hand Tesla the controls, you move your power bill to Tesla, and for now you need an invitation to get in.
Who it suits
- Powerwall 2 or Powerwall 3 owners who are happy for software to run the battery and do not want to fiddle with settings.
- Households in SA Power Networks, Energex or the NSW and ACT networks, where Tesla has published plan documents.
- People comfortable with a bill that moves with the wholesale market, and who can shift some usage out of the 3pm to 9pm peak.
Who should skip it
- Anyone without a Powerwall. No other battery brand is eligible.
- People who want to set their own backup reserve or run the battery manually. Overriding Tesla may affect your warranty under the plan terms.
- Apartment owners on an embedded network, and anyone who has not received an invitation in the Tesla app.
Tesla Electric at a glance
| Provider | Tesla |
| Plan | Tesla Electric Dynamic |
| Status | Invitation only (pilot) when checked. Eligible Powerwall owners are invited through the Tesla app. |
| States | NSW, ACT, SA, QLD |
| Networks / regions | Plan documents published for Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy and Essential Energy (NSW), Evoenergy (ACT), SA Power Networks (SA) and Energex (South East QLD). The plan terms also list VIC as eligible, but we found no Victorian plan document. |
| How it pays | Wholesale-linked: 90% of the live 5-minute wholesale price for every kWh exported, plus unpublished extra credits when your Powerwall provides grid support services. |
| Sign-up bonus | $100 Pilot Program credit (per the Ausgrid plan document) |
| Control and reserve | Tesla runs the Powerwall: it can charge from the grid when prices are low, discharge when they are high, curtail Powerwall 3 solar at negative prices and put the battery on standby for grid services. No guaranteed backup reserve is stated in the plan documents we read. |
| Contract and exit fees | No fixed term and no exit fee listed in the plan document or fees page. 10 business day cooling-off period. |
| Switch retailer? | Yes. Tesla must be your electricity retailer, on the Tesla Electric Dynamic plan with fixed time-of-use import rates. |
| State incentive link | Not confirmed. We could not verify Tesla Electric as an approved VPP for the NSW or SA VPP incentives, so ask Tesla before counting on either. |
| Last checked | Sep 2026, against the provider's own pages |
How the money actually works
There are two separate streams of money. The first is the export credit. Every kWh your home sends to the grid, whether it comes from your panels or your Powerwall, is credited at 90% of the Australian Energy Market Operator's 5-minute settlement price for your state at that moment. Most smart meters record in 5-minute intervals; some older ones only record every 30 minutes, which Tesla says changes how your earnings are calculated.
The second is a grid services credit. When your Powerwall helps keep the grid's frequency stable (a market called FCAS), Tesla may pay you extra bill credits. During those moments the battery can charge, discharge or sit on standby. Tesla does not publish a rate for this, so there is no honest way to put a number on it.
Your imports are the other half of the bill. Unlike the export side, they are fixed time-of-use rates. On the Ausgrid plan document, effective 8 July 2026, peak is 3pm to 8:59pm at 49.71c per kWh, everything else is 24.02c per kWh, and the supply charge is 110.07c a day, all including GST. Other networks have their own documents with different rates.
Because Tesla can also charge your Powerwall from the grid when prices are low and sell back when they spike, the plan works a bit like a small trading desk run on your behalf. That is where the upside comes from, and it is also why you give up day-to-day control.
Worked example: what one kWh earns at different market prices
Built only from Tesla's published terms, with every assumption spelled out.
- Tesla's published rule: you are credited 90% of the AEMO 5-minute price for each kWh exported.
- Wholesale prices are quoted in dollars per megawatt-hour (MWh). $100/MWh is the same as 10c per kWh.
- The three market prices below are illustrations, not forecasts. Real prices change every five minutes.
This shows the mechanics only. We are not giving an annual dollar figure, because it depends entirely on how often prices spike in your state, how much Tesla trades your battery and what the unpublished grid services credits add up to. It also ignores what you pay to import, which on this plan is a fixed time-of-use rate.
Which batteries work with Tesla Electric
This is Tesla'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 Tesla before you count on the numbers.
- Tesla Powerwall 2
- Tesla Powerwall 3
Read up on the brands we cover: Tesla Powerwall.
The catch: fine print worth reading first
- Tesla drives, not you. The plan terms let Tesla remotely access and control your Powerwall and solar, update its firmware, and put it into standby. If you manually override Tesla's control or skip updates, the terms say that may affect your manufacturer's warranty.
- No stated backup reserve. The plan documents we read do not promise a minimum charge kept for blackouts. If backup is your priority, ask Tesla before you join.
- You switch retailer. Tesla has to be your electricity retailer. Your usage rates, supply charge and billing all move to Tesla, and those prices are not fixed.
- Invitation only for now. The Ausgrid plan document says sign-up is by invitation through the Tesla app, and the plan terms say you may not be eligible if you have not been invited.
- One VPP at a time. You cannot sign your Powerwall up to any other VPP, demand-response or optimisation program while on this plan.
- Negative prices. On a Powerwall 3, Tesla can curtail your solar when wholesale prices go negative. That feature is not available on Powerwall 2.
Other things to know
- Your Powerwall has to stay connected to the internet at least 95% of the time, and you have to accept Tesla software and firmware updates promptly.
- Bills are monthly and paid from Tesla Wallet by direct debit or card. A remotely-read smart meter is required, and embedded networks (many apartment blocks) are not eligible.
- Import prices and the daily supply charge are not fixed. The plan document says Tesla can vary them with at least 5 business days notice.
How it sits next to your battery rebates
Tesla Electric is a retail plan with a VPP built in, so on its own it is not a rebate. We could not confirm from Tesla's documents whether it counts as an approved VPP for the NSW VPP incentive or South Australia's VPP incentive, so ask Tesla directly if you are relying on either.
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: NSW battery rebates, ACT battery rebates, SA battery rebates, QLD battery rebates. Then run your own numbers in the savings calculator before you add any VPP income on top.
Alternatives worth comparing
- Amber for Batteries with SmartShift (Amber Electric): also wholesale-linked and also takes Powerwall 2 and 3, but you keep manual override and a 25% floor on grid exports.
- AGL Virtual Power Plant (AGL): a fixed $1 per kWh event credit for Powerwall owners, with a 20% reserve and no exit fee.
- Origin Loop VPP (Battery Lite) (Origin Energy): pays $1 per kWh discharged in events, up to 200kWh a year, on any Origin electricity plan.
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 Tesla Electric Dynamic against Tesla'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.