Walmart invests in Base Power, to sign up battery customers in Texas stores

Walmart said on October 30, 2026 that it has made a strategic investment in Base Power, the Austin home battery company, and will offer Base's home energy plans at participating Walmart and Sam's Club locations, starting in Texas (release). Beginning in November, customers and members who enroll there in an eligible Base battery offering get 20% off Base's standard upfront installation fee. The release puts no figure on the investment.

On Base's Core page, the listing for Oncor territory's Energy + Backup plan, which pairs the battery with Base electricity at an all-in rate of about 13.9¢/kWh, puts the installation fee at $695 for a 39.2 kWh battery, plus a $19 monthly membership fee. Under that plan, 20% off brings the fee to $556 by our arithmetic. The page shows plans and pricing by utility, the release says pricing varies by location, and the release does not mention the monthly fee. Base installs, owns and maintains the batteries and says it earns most of its income from grid support, helping the grid when it is under strain (the work of a virtual power plant); it gives that as the reason whole-home backup costs a few hundred dollars upfront.

Texas is Base's largest market, with more than 35,000 members, the release says; more than 20,000 of those households have a Base battery and the rest get their electricity from Base. Shoppers can meet Base representatives at participating stores to ask questions and enroll, and Walmart expects to expand to more locations and markets over time. Base's first utility partnership outside Texas, a 50 MW battery program with Central Georgia EMC, was announced on October 13.

Fortune wrote in October 2025 that Base sells electricity and backup battery power "like a Costco membership." The pitch now moves into Sam's Club.