Three hours of free power: who it helps — and who it quietly costs.
From 1 July 2026, larger retailers in NSW, South-East Queensland and South Australia must offer a plan with a free block of midday electricity — around three hours, capped at 24 kWh a day. It's genuinely good news for some homes. But "free" doesn't mean "cheaper", and for an empty 9-to-5 house it can quietly cost more than it saves. Here's the honest read.
Reviewed by the Mission Green Energy Team · Updated July 2026
Is a Solar Sharer plan
actually worth switching to?
Amber — it depends entirely on your household. It's a real win if you can move power into the middle of the day, and a quiet cost if you can't. The free hours are genuine; the plan around them isn't a giveaway.
Here's the honest frame the headline skips. From 1 July 2026, larger electricity retailers in New South Wales, South-East Queensland and South Australia are required to offer at least one residential plan that gives you a free block of electricity in the middle of the day — about three hours, capped at 24 kWh per day. That part is real, and for the right home it's genuinely useful. The catch isn't hidden fine print; it's simpler than that: a retailer still has to make its money, so an eligible plan usually recovers the cost of those free hours somewhere else on the same bill — typically in a higher peak usage rate, a higher shoulder rate, or a higher daily supply charge.
That means the only question that matters is a personal one: can you actually use enough power in the free window to outweigh the higher charges the rest of the day? A retiree at home, a shift worker, or anyone who can put the dishwasher, washing machine, pool pump or hot-water heating on a midday timer may come out clearly ahead. A household that's empty from 9 to 5 and does everything in the evening peak may find the free window sits unused while the higher charges do the work — and the plan quietly costs more than the one they left. Sometimes the honest answer is: don't switch.
What is the Solar Sharer offer,
exactly?
A new government reform that makes big retailers offer a "free midday power" plan — to share Australia's glut of cheap daytime solar with everyone, including renters and homes without panels.
The Solar Sharer offer is an Australian Government reform, introduced through amendments to the Electricity Retail Code and sitting alongside the Australian Energy Regulator's Default Market Offer. The rules were finalised in early March 2026, and from 1 July 2026 they require larger retailers in three regions — New South Wales, South-East Queensland and South Australia — to offer at least one residential plan with a free midday window. The free block runs roughly 11am to 2pm in NSW and South-East Queensland, and 12pm to 3pm in South Australia, and it's capped at 24 kWh per day as a "reasonable use" limit so the scheme stays sustainable for retailers.
The reason it exists is a real grid problem. Australia now has millions of rooftop solar systems, and at midday they pour so much power into the grid that wholesale prices routinely fall to zero or below. The Solar Sharer idea is to nudge some household demand into that sunny window instead of letting the energy go to waste — and to hand a slice of that cheap solar to people who've been shut out of it, particularly renters and households that can't install their own panels.
Two important honest caveats. First, the exact regions, hours and cap can change as the rollout evolves, so treat the figures above as current-as-at-writing and confirm them at the source. Second, "required to offer" means the plan has to exist — it doesn't mean it's the cheapest plan for you, and it certainly doesn't mean you're on it automatically.
Who's eligible —
and what do you need?
Deliberately broad: renters and non-solar homes are in. But there are three practical gates — the right region, a smart meter, and actively opting in to an eligible plan.
Renters & non-solar homes
You don't need rooftop solar, and you don't need to own the place. The whole point is to share cheap midday solar with people locked out of putting panels on their own roof — so tenants and non-solar households are explicitly included.
A smart meter
The free window is measured on your meter's half-hourly data, so a smart (interval) meter is required. If you're still on an old accumulation meter, you'll need one installed before an eligible plan can work for you.
Opt in — it's not automatic
Nobody is moved onto a Solar Sharer plan by default. You choose an eligible plan from a participating retailer. Larger retailers in the three regions must offer one; a very small retailer may not, so you may need to shop around.
Is it really free —
or does the cost move somewhere else?
The midday energy is genuinely free within the cap. But the plan wrapped around it isn't charity — the cost of those free hours usually reappears in your other rates.
Let's be plain about the money, because this is where "free" gets misread. Inside the daily window, up to the 24 kWh cap, the energy really is free. But a retailer can't give power away and stay in business, so an eligible Solar Sharer plan typically recovers that cost elsewhere on the same plan — most often through a higher peak-rate usage charge, a higher shoulder rate, or a higher daily supply charge. In other words, it's not a discount bolted onto your existing plan; it's a differently shaped plan.
That reshaping is exactly why we won't quote you a savings figure. Whether a Solar Sharer plan beats your current one is genuinely personal, and it turns on one thing: how much of your usage you can realistically move into the free hours versus how much stays in the now-more-expensive peak. Consider the two ends of the spectrum:
- The plan can pay off when you can shift real load into the middle of the day — dishwasher, washing machine, pool pump, hot-water system on a timer, an EV charging at lunchtime, a home office running the aircon while the window's open.
- The plan can quietly cost you when the house is empty from 9 to 5 and life happens at night — the free window goes largely unused, while the higher peak and supply charges quietly eat the benefit and then some.
This is the same logic behind any time-of-use tariff, and it's why the honest move is always to check your own numbers before switching. Our companion guide on the two-way "sun tax" export tariff covers the other half of how midday solar is being re-priced — worth reading alongside this one if you already have panels.
Who does it actually help —
and who should skip it?
The offer sorts homes into two rough camps. The difference isn't your postcode or your politics — it's simply when you use power.
Someone home in the day
Retirees, people who work from home, carers, shift workers home at midday — households that can genuinely soak up the free window with real appliances rather than leaving it idle.
Timer-friendly, shiftable loads
A pool pump, hot-water system, dishwasher, washing machine or EV that you can move to the middle of the day with a timer or app. The more of your load you can reschedule, the better the maths.
The empty 9-to-5 house
If the home is dark from morning to evening and everything runs at dinner-time, the free window sits unused while the higher peak and supply charges do the work. For this home the plan can cost more.
How to check whether it's worth it
for your home.
Don't switch on the headline — switch on your own data. Four steps turn "3 hours free!" into an actual yes or no for your household.
- Pull your real usage. Get your smart-meter data or a recent bill and find how much power you already use in the midday window on a typical day — and be honest about how much of your evening use you could realistically move there.
- Read the whole plan, not the free hours. On any eligible plan, note the peak rate, shoulder rate and daily supply charge, not just the free block. Compare those line-by-line against your current plan.
- Model a full bill both ways. Estimate a whole quarterly bill on the Solar Sharer plan (free window + higher other charges) versus staying put. The winner is whichever is lower across the entire bill, not whichever has the shiniest headline.
- Use an independent comparison. Cross-check on the government's Energy Made Easy comparison site (or the Victorian equivalent), with your real usage — not the retailer's example household.
If you already have solar or a battery, add one more step: your own self-consumption may already be worth more than the free window, so the two need weighing together rather than assumed to stack. Start with whether solar is worth it for your home in 2026 if you're still on that decision — the Solar Sharer plan is a tariff choice that sits on top of it, not a substitute for it.
So — switch, or stay put?
The friend's answer.
Here's the call we'd give a mate: if you can genuinely feed the free window, it's a real win — especially for renters and non-solar homes who've been locked out of cheap solar. If you can't, don't let "free" talk you into a plan that costs you more.
Switch to a Solar Sharer plan when someone's home in the day, or you can move real load — pool pump, hot water, laundry, dishwasher, an EV charge — into the free window, and a whole-of-bill comparison on your actual usage comes out ahead after the higher peak and supply charges. For renters and homes without solar, it's one of the few ways to tap Australia's cheap midday solar directly, and that's a genuinely good thing. Stay put — without any guilt — when your house is empty through the middle of the day, your life runs in the evening peak, or a full-bill comparison shows the higher charges outweigh the free hours. In that case a plain flat or time-of-use plan may simply be cheaper, and "don't switch" is the right answer. Either way, the rule is the same: run your load through the numbers, not the retailer's headline household.
The Solar Sharer offer:
your questions, answered.
The Solar Sharer offer is an Australian Government reform that, from 1 July 2026, requires larger electricity retailers in New South Wales, South-East Queensland and South Australia to offer at least one residential plan with a free block of electricity in the middle of the day — around three hours, capped at 24 kWh a day. It was introduced through amendments to the Electricity Retail Code, sitting alongside the Australian Energy Regulator's Default Market Offer, with the rules finalised in early March 2026. The free window is set at roughly 11am to 2pm in NSW and South-East Queensland and 12pm to 3pm in South Australia. Because start dates, regions, hours and the cap can change, confirm the current terms at aer.gov.au or dcceew.gov.au before relying on any figure.
It is deliberately broad. You do not need rooftop solar, and it is open to renters as well as owner-occupiers — the whole point is to share cheap midday solar with people who can't put panels on their own roof. What you do need is a smart meter and to opt in by choosing an eligible plan from a participating retailer; it is not applied automatically. The obligation to offer a plan falls on larger retailers in the three regions, so a very small retailer may not have one. Check your own retailer and confirm current eligibility at aer.gov.au, as details can change.
The midday energy itself is genuinely free within the cap — but the plan around it is not a giveaway. A retailer still has to recover its costs, and it typically does that elsewhere on the same plan: higher peak-rate usage charges, higher shoulder rates, or a higher daily supply charge. So an eligible plan is not automatically cheaper than your current one — it is a different shape. Whether you come out ahead depends entirely on whether you can move enough of your usage into the free window to outweigh the higher charges the rest of the day. For a house that's empty from 9 to 5, that can be hard, and the plan can quietly cost more than it saves.
Homes that already use — or can easily shift — a real chunk of power in the middle of the day. Think someone home during the day, a retiree household, shift workers, or anyone who can run the dishwasher, washing machine, pool pump, hot-water heating or an EV charge in the free window on a timer. Renters and non-solar homes are included, which is a genuine plus for people who've been locked out of rooftop solar. It helps least a household that leaves an empty house all day and does everything in the evening peak — for them the free window sits unused while the higher peak and supply charges do the work.
Only after you check your own usage — don't switch on the headline. Look at your smart-meter data or bill to see how much power you already use, or realistically could shift, into the free midday window, then compare a specific eligible plan's peak, shoulder and supply charges against your current plan across a whole bill, not just the free hours. If you can load a lot into the middle of the day, it can be a real saving; if your life runs in the evening, staying put — or a different time-of-use or flat plan — may cost less. Sometimes the honest answer is don't switch. Use an independent comparison and your real numbers, not the retailer's example household.
No — that's the design. The offer exists precisely to share midday solar with homes that don't have their own panels, so renters and non-solar households can benefit purely by shifting usage into the free window with timers and habits. Solar and a battery aren't required and aren't the point of this reform. That said, if you already have solar you may find your own self-consumption is worth more than the free window, and if you have a battery the two need to be weighed together rather than assumed to stack — the best plan for a solar-and-battery home is often not a Solar Sharer plan at all.
Where these figures come from.
The dates, regions, hours and cap on this page are drawn from official primary sources and were current as at July 2026. Programs change — confirm at the source before relying on a figure.
- Minister for Climate Change and Energy — Next steps for the Solar Sharer Offer (dcceew.gov.au)
- Minister for Climate Change and Energy — More Australian homes to get access to solar power (dcceew.gov.au)
- Australian Energy Regulator — Default Market Offer 2026-27 final determination (aer.gov.au)
- Office of Impact Analysis — Options to provide the Solar Sharer Offer (oia.pmc.gov.au)
- Energy Made Easy — the AER's independent electricity plan comparison site