The Solar Sharer Offer: three free hours of power a day, and who it suits

What is the Solar Sharer Offer?

The Solar Sharer Offer is an electricity plan, not a rebate. On it, power you use during the free window costs nothing, up to 24 kWh a day. Outside the window you pay the plan's usual rates, plus the daily supply charge. It exists because rooftop solar floods the grid in the middle of the day, so power at that time is cheap to supply; the plan passes that on to households, including those without solar.

South-east Queensland means postcodes 4000–4230, 4270–4275, 4280, 4285, 4300–4306, 4500–4521, 4550–4569, 4571–4575. Elsewhere in Queensland, and in Victoria, WA, Tasmania, the ACT and the NT, it isn't offered.

Who can get the Solar Sharer Offer?

The Solar Sharer Offer is open to homes in its areas on these terms:

• You need a smart meter. You don't need solar.
• It isn't available in embedded networks (many apartment blocks, retirement villages and caravan parks).
• It's an optional plan from larger retailers: you choose to switch to it.

The catch: compare the whole plan

The free hours are only part of the plan. Usage outside the window and the daily supply charge can be higher than on your current plan, so a household that uses most of its power in the evening can end up paying more. Compare on Energy Made Easy with your own bill.

What is the Solar Sharer Offer worth?

The Solar Sharer Offer is worth what you'd otherwise pay for each kWh you move into the free hours: every kWh moved saves what you'd otherwise pay for it. At the 2026-27 reference rates we use, that's about 33c a kWh in NSW, 42c a kWh in SA, 28c a kWh in QLD. Moving 5 kWh a day (a load of washing, the dishwasher and a pool pump, say) into the free hours would save about $510 to $760 a year at those rates, before any difference in the plan's other charges.

Easy to move into the middle of the day: a hot water system on a timer, the pool pump, the dishwasher and washing machine, pre-cooling or pre-heating the house, and charging an electric car at home.

Does the Solar Sharer Offer work with a battery?

Yes: a battery can charge from the free hours on days your panels don't fill it: in winter, on cloudy days, or when your solar system is small. It then runs the house in the evening on power that cost nothing.

In our estimates (October 2026), it matters most for a battery added to a small existing system of 2 to 3 kW: about $350 to $790 a year more in savings. For new systems of 5 to 6.6 kW or more, sized to your use, the panels usually fill the battery anyway, so the free hours add little or nothing.

Our estimate shows the free hours where they're offered at your address and worth $50 or more a year, and counts them only if you choose. See adding a battery to existing solar and solar battery cost.

Solar Sharer, feed-in tariffs and virtual power plants

• Feed-in tariffs pay you for power you export; Solar Sharer is about power you use. Check whether the plan's feed-in tariff is lower than your current one. See feed-in tariffs 2026-27.
• Virtual power plants pay you to let a provider use your battery at busy times. Check with the provider whether its VPP and a Solar Sharer plan can be combined. See virtual power plants.