Does Solar Sharer apply everywhere in NSW?

The obligation covers the Default Market Offer area, which is the great majority of New South Wales households. It lands on larger retailers — a very small retailer is not necessarily required to offer a plan, so if yours does not have one that alone is not a reason to panic-switch. The plan still has to beat your current one on your actual usage.

What is the Solar Sharer offer and when does it start?

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.

Who is eligible for the Solar Sharer free power window?

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.

Is the Solar Sharer offer actually free, or is there a catch?

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.

Who does the Solar Sharer offer actually help?

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.

Should I switch to a Solar Sharer plan?

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.

Which retailers are offering a Solar Sharer plan?

At the July 2026 launch, Origin, Red Energy, Engie, Dodo, Sumo and AGL had eligible plans in market across NSW, South-East Queensland and South Australia, with GloBird also running its own free-daytime offer and Ergon Energy offering one in Queensland via Tariff 12F. EnergyAustralia did not have a compliant offer in market on 1 July and delayed its launch. Alinta and ActewAGL were not offering a three-hour free window. The more useful question than who offers it is what they changed in exchange — several retailers raised the fixed daily supply charge sharply, with Origin's reported to have roughly doubled and Red Energy's rising from about 122c to about 185c a day. Retail pricing changes constantly, so check a specific plan for your postcode on the AER's Energy Made Easy site rather than relying on any list.

Does Victoria get the Solar Sharer offer?

No. Victoria is not part of the Solar Sharer offer, because Solar Sharer was delivered through the Electricity Retail Code under the Australian Energy Regulator's Default Market Offer, and Victoria runs its own retail framework under the Victorian Default Offer, regulated by the Essential Services Commission. Victoria legislated its own equivalent instead: the Victorian Midday Power Saver, available from 1 October 2026, with a free window of 11am to 2pm every day including weekends and a reported 24 kWh fair-use cap. Around 2.6 million Victorian households are expected to be eligible. As with Solar Sharer you need a smart meter, you must opt in, and you do not need solar or to own your home — and the Victorian Government states directly that prices outside the free window will be higher, so households that cannot shift usage could pay more than before.

Do I need solar or a battery to benefit from Solar Sharer?

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.

Solar Sharer in New South Wales

Three hours of free power in NSW: who it helps, and who quietly pays for it.

Solar Sharer has been live since 1 July 2026. In New South Wales the free block runs 11am–2pm, capped at 24 kWh a day. You need a smart meter, you have to opt in, and the obligation lands on larger retailers. Below: why it exists here, who it genuinely helps, and the households it quietly costs.

Written by Juan Flinn, Content Editor · Reviewed by the Mission Green Energy Team · Updated September 2026

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The mechanics, briefly

Free from 11am, and you have to ask for it.

The obligation has applied since 1 July 2026 across the Default Market Offer area, which covers the great majority of New South Wales households. The free block is roughly three hours from 11am, capped at 24 kWh a day, a ceiling almost no household reaches: using it would mean drawing 8 kW continuously for the whole window.

The rules are the same everywhere it applies: a smart meter, an active opt-in, and an obligation that lands only on larger retailers. Rates outside the window may be higher, which is how the offer pays for itself. The full scheme and the retailer comparison →

Why here

Why NSW got this, and why the sun tax arrived with it.

Solar Sharer is not generosity, it is a plumbing problem. New South Wales has so much rooftop solar that the middle of the day now routinely produces more than the grid wants, and pushing that surplus around costs money. Paying households nothing to soak it up is cheaper than curtailing it.

Which is why the free window and the two-way export tariff landed in the same era. They are the carrot and the stick on the same problem: one pays you to use power at midday, the other can charge you to export it. If you have solar in NSW, you are now being nudged from both sides toward using your own generation rather than sending it away.

If you already have solar

If you have solar in NSW already.

Between 11am and 2pm a working solar system is already covering the house, so the free window adds little on a clear day — your own generation got there first. It earns its keep on the days the roof cannot deliver: winter, heavy cloud, a shaded or undersized array.

The bigger NSW question is what happens to the surplus. With export increasingly worth little and potentially charged for, the value moves to storing midday energy rather than selling it — which is the same conclusion the NSW battery incentive is pushing households toward.

The honest test

The NSW test: what happens either side of the window.

Check the peak rate, not the free hours. NSW peak periods are long and expensive, and a Solar Sharer plan usually pays for its free block there. A few cents on the 3pm to 9pm rate will outrun three free hours in most households.

Count who is actually home on a weekday. Sydney commutes are long. If the house is empty from 7am to 6pm and nothing is on a timer, the window is close to worthless, and that is a perfectly reasonable conclusion to reach.

If you export, model both changes together. A free window and a two-way export tariff can land on the same bill. Look at them as one number, not two.

Run a full quarter on your own data. Compare on Energy Made Easy using your actual usage file, not the headline.

Questions

Solar Sharer in NSW: common questions.

When did Solar Sharer start in New South Wales?

1 July 2026. Larger retailers in the Default Market Offer regions have been required to offer at least one eligible residential plan since then. You are not moved onto one automatically — you have to opt in.

What are the Solar Sharer hours in New South Wales?

11am to 2pm, with a reasonable-use cap of 24 kWh a day. The free block is around three hours and applies every day.

Do I need solar panels to get Solar Sharer in NSW?

No. You do not need rooftop solar and you do not need to own your home — renters and non-solar households are explicitly included. You do need a smart meter, because the free window is measured on half-hourly data, and you need to actively opt in.

Can Solar Sharer cost me money in NSW?

It can. NSW peak windows are long, and the peak rate is where these plans usually recover the free hours. A commuting household that is out all day and runs its heaviest load between 5pm and 9pm can comfortably pay more than it saves. The test is the whole bill on your own usage, not the three free hours.