Integrators are finally starting to crack the code on where smarter energy management systems–and by extension home battery backups–fit in the home improvement market. Combined with some shifting market conditions, some much needed clarifications and an overall greater interest from consumers these catalysts will likely make home energy storage a product category many integrators are going to want to watch in the coming years.
What Took So Long for Home Batteries to Get More Attention?
Home energy systems have long suffered from an identity crisis. The strangeness, however, is that it’s never been just a matter of consumers or installers simply “not getting it.” Manufacturers of these solutions (with a few exceptions) have also largely struggled to market these products effectively.
Messaging for a while placed the emphasis on solar and energy savings, with the average cost of investment appearing in the range of tens of thousands–something that might be a tall order for someone looking to save a few bucks on their energy bill. Meanwhile, the person able to afford that with minimal financial duress might not be as concerned with the electricity each month as many integrators have pointed out over the years.
Integrators Have Seemingly Cracked the Code, Though
Integrators who have worked with the products are saying they’ve tailored their discussions with clients around what they find to be the real value proposition
According to Lamar Gibson of Miestro Home Integration when speaking with CE Pro in Spring 2023, his firm was presenting home batteries as an alternative to a backup generator; one that was more reliable, faster to switch on, and required far less manual engagement to get running.

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Rather than selling them as energy savers, then, integrators working at the cutting edge of these installations have found success in selling home batteries and associated energy systems as insurance, causing interest to explode among clients.
Joe Piccirilli of RoseWater Energy echoed this sentiment in a more recent talk, saying people pay the most money to get time back to themselves, and power disruptions can be some of the single longest moments of wasted time the average client might face.
It Helps That Electricity Costs Keep Spiking, Too
In speaking with CE Pro during spring of 2024, Robert Anderson, whose firm, Premiere SAV provides luxury home technology installation services across the United States, said even his wealthiest clients are starting to examine the electrical bill now.
The reason, he explains, is that they want to make sure they’re getting the most out of what they’re paying for, and grid energy, for many of them, no longer provides that value proposition.
Electricity, like every commodity following the pandemic, saw a notable rise in cost, with the annual rate of inflation at 5.9% as of last July. Unlike every commodity, however, electricity’s rising cost doesn’t come from pandemic borne shortages or demand. Instead, AI and the industrial onshoring of American manufacturing have driven up energy demands rapidly, while taxing an already overworked grid to the breaking point.
Projections have AI alone increasing the average cost of electricity by 70% come 2029 due to the staggering amount of energy the technology uses. The average smart home client may have a bit more cash on hand than the average homeowner, but that doesn’t mean they’re reckless spenders.
What Didn’t Help Was Being Paired with Solar for So Long
Part of this boost in optics is also coming from the gradual decoupling of batteries from solar in terms of association. Most homeowners think that a battery is only useful if you have an array set up, which undoubtedly threw up a roadblock to adoption as not everyone will want to buy rooftop solar panels, especially as the whole solar business has gotten more muddled in its consumer messaging.
By stressing independence from solar, the possibility of adding battery backup to a household is suddenly a far less herculean task. The only difference is instead of charging the battery through solar, homeowners charge the battery from the grid during off hours.
It also helps that associated energy management systems have become far more modular, making it a lot easier for installers to start small and scale big. Savant, one of the pioneers of home battery systems and energy management in the channel recently released a power module that can be plugged in to a electrical panel to start and be used to upgrade the home that way.
All this points to perceptions, installation methods, and even sales propositions changing in the coming year that could cause this product category to grow significantly through heightened interest and greater ease of communicating and displaying its value to clients.
This article is part of our coverage for the Top 5 Home Technology Trends of 2025. To see a list of all the trends we see affecting integrators in the new year, follow the link to the article above.
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