Solar Sharer Offer explained: How to get 3 hours of free electricity a day

From 1 July 2026, eligible households in New South Wales, South Australia and South East Queensland can get three hours of free electricity every day under a new scheme called the Solar Sharer Offer.

It's a government initiative designed to ease the cost of electricity for households, but "free electricity" doesn't mean a free bill.

Here's what the offer covers, who is eligible, what it's worth in real dollars, and how to work out if switching to it makes sense for your household.

Quick facts

• What it is: A regulated electricity plan with a 3-hour free-power window each day, plus normal time-of-use rates outside that window.
• Where: NSW, South East Queensland and South Australia. Victoria is getting a similar scheme from 1 October, and other states may be added later, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
• When: 11am to 2pm in NSW and South East Queensland, 12pm to 3pm in South Australia. Every day, all year, and the time doesn't shift for daylight saving.
• Free electricity cap: Up to 24 kWh per day. Usage above that is charged at a "reasonable use" rate.
• Do you need solar panels? No. Any eligible household can opt in.
• Is it automatic? No. You need a smart meter and you have to ask your retailer to opt in.

What is the Solar Sharer Offer?

The Solar Sharer Offer (SSO) is a new type of standing offer created as part of reforms to the Default Market Offer (DMO), the regulated price safety net for households who haven't shopped around for an energy deal.

The Australian Government designed it to let households use excess solar power generated in the middle of the day, when supply on the grid regularly outstrips demand, instead of that power going to waste.

You don't need rooftop solar to benefit. The idea is to give renters, apartment dwellers and anyone without their own panels a way to access cheap solar power too, by shifting some of their electricity use into the free window rather than generating it themselves.

Retailers with more than 1,000 customers across NSW, South Australia and South East Queensland combined are required to offer the SSO to eligible households, but nobody is moved onto it automatically. It's opt-in only, and the Australian Energy Regulator sets the tariff settings, including the free-power window and the rates that apply outside it, for each region.

When is the free electricity window?

The free-power period runs for three hours in the middle of the day, at the same time every day, all year, according to Energy Made Easy. It doesn't move with daylight saving, which keeps it simple to plan around. The exact time depends on where you live:

Outside that 3-hour window, standard time-of-use pricing applies. It gets slightly more complicated here, because that pricing is set at the network level rather than nationally. This is what it looks like:

The free window is fixed for your region, but the rates you pay for the rest of the day depend on which network area you're in and which retailer you're with. It's important to check those details carefully before you switch, as it will impact whether the Solar Sharer Offer is right for you or not.

Who is eligible for the Solar Sharer Offer?

To get the Solar Sharer Offer, you need to meet all of the following, requirements, as listed by energy.gov.au and Energy Made Easy:

• You live in NSW, South East Queensland or South Australia.
• You have a smart meter installed at your property.
• You're a residential customer, renting or owning.
• You're not supplied through an embedded network (common in caravan parks, retirement villages and some apartment blocks).
• Your retailer is required to offer the SSO (any retailer with over 1,000 customers across DMO areas).

If you don't have a smart meter, you can ask your retailer about getting one installed, though fees may apply depending on your circumstances.

The offer is opt-in, so you'll need to actively request it. It will never be applied to your account by default.

How much can you actually save?

The biggest thing to consider with the Solar Sharer Offer is whether you can change your electricity habits to shift your usage into that three-hour window. If you can't, then it may not be worth it.

To work out how much you can save, start with how the AER designed the offer. The Solar Sharer Offer is set to have the same annual cost as the standard DMO time-of-use tariff for a customer with typical usage patterns, with prices outside the free window running 1 to 4 cents/kWh higher to offset the free hours.

In other words, it isn't priced to be cheaper by default. A household that uses electricity at roughly the same times as an average household will end up paying about the same either way.

The saving only shows up if you actively shift usage into the free window.

To see what that's actually worth, it helps to work from the regulator's published maximum rates for the Solar Sharer Offer rather than a general dollar figure.

Here's what the AER has set as the maximum peak and off-peak usage rates by network for 2026–27:

Source: AER Solar Sharer Offer determination for 2026–27, maximum regulated rates by distribution network.

Here's a worked example using Ausgrid's pricing:

Every kWh of usage you move from the 64c/kWh peak rate into the free window costs nothing instead of 64 cents. So if you shift 5kWh a day this way, (which is roughly one dishwasher cycle and one load of washing), and that's $3.20 a day in avoided peak charges, or around $1,168 over a full year, before accounting for the 1 to 4 cents/kWh increase on the usage you don't shift.

But that's only if you shift things from peak times to the free window. If you shift from off-peak rather than peak usage, the saving will be smaller.

With that in mind, it obviously makes sense to move as much as you can from peak times to the free window. The 24kWh daily cap on free usage is generous enough that it will be hard to fully use. 24 kWh is roughly equivalent to 24 cycles of a washing machine or running a hot water booster for 6.5 hours straight. Using it all up in just three hours isn't an easy task.

That means that the potential savings from the offer are only as big as the usage you can shift. If most of your electricity use happens in the evening and can't move, the 1 to 4 cents/kWh increase on your non-free usage can outweigh whatever you save in the window.

Is the Solar Sharer Offer worth it for your household?

Based on the eligibility and design guidance published by Energy Made Easy, the offer tends to suit households that can move usage into the middle of the day, and tends to disappoint households that can't. It's likely to work in your favour if you:

• work from home, are retired, or are a shift worker who's often home during the day
• can run appliances like the dishwasher, washing machine or dryer on a timer during the free window
• charge an electric vehicle or a home battery during the day
• are comfortable checking your smart meter data or app to track whether it's actually helping

It's less likely to help if:

• most of your electricity use happens in the early morning or evening
• nobody is home during the day and you can't schedule appliances to run unattended
• your hot water system is on a controlled load tariff, since these run on their own schedule (often overnight) and won't benefit from the free window regardless of which plan you're on

The only reliable way to know is to check your own usage pattern, either through your retailer's app, a home energy monitor, or your last few bills, before you switch.

How to make the most of the free electricity window

If you do opt in, the value comes from actively shifting load into your region's free window rather than just leaving things as they are. Here are some suggestions toi make the most of it:

• Run high-draw appliances during the window. Washing machines, dryers, dishwashers and pool pumps are the easiest to schedule using a delay-start or timer function.
• Pre-cool or pre-heat your home. Running air conditioning or heating during the free period, in a well-insulated and draught-proofed home, can reduce how much you need to run it later when rates are higher.
• Charge EVs and home batteries during the day. This is the most effective way to use a meaningful chunk of the 24kWh cap if you're not home to run appliances. Most passenger EV batteries hold somewhere between 40kWh and 70kWh, so a full 24kWh of free daytime charging is a substantial top-up in a single 3-hour window, though how much will depend on your vehicle and the charger.
• Check what's on a controlled load. Hot water systems and pool pumps on a controlled load circuit are billed separately and won't benefit from the free window, even if you're on the SSO.
• Monitor your results. Retailer apps and smart meter portals let you see how much of the free window you're actually using, so you can tell within a billing cycle or two whether the switch is paying off.

Is the Solar Sharer Offer fair?

Energy researchers writing in The Conversation point out that the households best placed to take advantage are homeowners with a smart meter, flexible hot water, an EV or battery, and the ability to choose when they run appliances.

Renters, apartment residents and people who are out of the house all day during the free window are less able to shift usage and stand to gain less.

Some energy retailers also argue the SSO isn't the only, or even the best, way to access cheap daytime power. Amber Electric, a wholesale-pricing retailer, points out that on plans tracking real-time wholesale prices, midday rates are often already near zero or negative on sunny days, without a fixed 3-hour cutoff or a 24kWh cap. That kind of plan won't suit everyone (prices move throughout the day rather than being predictable), but it's a reminder that the SSO is one option among several for accessing cheap solar-hours power, not the only one.

The Solar Sharer Offer vs other ways to save on electricity

The SSO sits alongside flat-rate and standard time-of-use standing offers under the DMO. All of these are safety-net prices for people who haven't shopped around.

In most cases, a competitive market offer from a retailer, chosen to match your actual usage pattern, will beat any DMO standing offer, SSO included.

It's also separate from other state government energy support.

In NSW, for example, Home Energy Saver offers discounts of up to $4,000 or zero-interest loans of up to $15,000 for upgrades like solar, batteries, heat pumps and insulation. It doesn't provide free power hours and has its own income and eligibility criteria. If you're in Queensland or South Australia, check your own state government's energy pages for equivalent rebates and concessions, since these run independently of the federal SSO and vary by state.

Which retailers offer the Solar Sharer Offer?

Because retailers with more than 1,000 DMO-area customers are required to offer the SSO, most major providers now have a version of it, including AGL, Origin, EnergyAustralia, Red Energy, Energy Locals and Alinta Energy.

The free-power window is set by the regulator for each region and is the same across providers within that region.

What differs between retailers is the rate you pay outside that window, the daily supply charge, and any other conditions attached to the plan, so you need to compare the full plan, not just the free-hours part.

If you're comparing electricity plans, whether that's a Solar Sharer Offer or a standard market plan, Utility Club can help you compare your options.

Is there a similar scheme in Victoria?

From 1 October 2026, Victoria is introducing its own version called the Midday Power Saver. It isn't the Solar Sharer Offer and isn't regulated by the AER, but it works on the same principle: a free 3-hour window in the middle of the day, with slightly higher rates outside that window to cover the cost.

• The free window runs from 11am to 2pm every day, including weekends, the same time across all Victorian distribution zones.
• Households with a smart meter, whose retailer has 1,000 or more customers are eligible. It's opt-in only, just like the SSO.
• The Midday Power Saver is regulated by Essential Services Commission (ESC), Victoria's own regulator, rather than the AER. Tariffs are set against the Victorian Default Offer (VDO) using the same pricing method as the SSO.
• The Victorian Government estimates households could save between $149 and $428 a year, depending on how much usage they shift (5% to 30%). Households charging an EV during the window could save an extra $674, for a total of up to $1,102.

If you're in Victoria, contact us here at Utility Club from 1 October to compare your options.

How to switch to the Solar Sharer Offer

1. Confirm you're eligible. Check you're in an eligible network area and that you have a smart meter.
2. Review your usage pattern. Look at your last few bills or your retailer's app to see when your household actually uses the most electricity.
3. Compare the full plan, not just the free hours. Check the peak, off-peak and supply charge rates that apply outside your region's free window, and compare them against your current plan or other market offers.
4. Contact your retailer to opt in. The SSO isn't applied automatically, you need to ask for it specifically.
5. Set up scheduling where you can. Use appliance timers, EV charging schedules or smart plugs to shift usage into the free window.
6. Check in after a billing cycle or two. Compare your actual bill against what you were paying before to confirm the switch is working in your favour.

For more general ways to cut your electricity costs beyond the Solar Sharer Offer, see our energy saving tips.

Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash