Three free hours of power a day: is the Solar Sharer Offer right for your home?

Free electricity sounds like an easy yes, and for some homes it may be. Since 1 July 2026, households in NSW, south east Queensland and South Australia with a smart meter can ask their retailer for a plan with three hours of free electricity in the middle of the day. Whether it works out for you depends on when you use power, so it is worth a closer look before you switch.

The plan is called the Solar Sharer Offer, and it was set by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) in its default market offer decision for 2026-27. It may suit homes that can move a good share of their power use into that window, and it may cost more for homes that cannot.

What the Solar Sharer Offer is

The AER released its final default market offer decision on 26 May 2026. For the first time, it required retailers to offer a Solar Sharer Offer, so that more households, including those without rooftop solar, can make better use of the solar power generated in the middle of the day.

The key features are:

• Free window: 11am to 2pm in NSW and south east Queensland, and 12pm to 3pm in South Australia, in local time.
• Free allowance: up to 24 kWh of free electricity in the window each day. Use above that is charged at a set rate, capped by the AER.
• Opt-in: you will not be moved onto it automatically. You have to ask your retailer.
• Smart meter needed: you need a smart meter (also called an interval meter), and you cannot be supplied through an embedded network, such as some apartment blocks, caravan parks and retirement villages.
• Who must offer it: retailers with more than 1,000 customers across the regions where the default market offer applies.

It is not available in regional Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT or the Northern Territory.

The catch: the other 21 hours

The Solar Sharer Offer is a regulated standing offer. The AER regulates its price using the same annual price as the time-of-use default market offer in each distribution zone. In plain terms, the free hours are balanced by higher rates at other times. Energy Made Easy, the government's comparison site, says electricity outside the free period is charged at higher time-of-use rates, such as peak, shoulder or off-peak.

So the offer is not automatically cheaper. Whether you come out ahead depends on how much of your use you can move into the free window, and how much stays in the morning and evening.

Who it may suit

Going by the regulator's guidance, the offer is more likely to suit you if you:

• are at home during the day, or use a lot of power in the middle of the day
• can schedule appliances such as the washing machine or air conditioner to run in the free window
• charge an electric vehicle at home during the day.

It is less likely to suit you if most of your electricity use is in the morning or evening and you cannot change that.

What it means for you

• Look at your usage first. With a smart meter, you may be able to get data from your retailer showing when you use power. Check how much of it falls in the free window, or could be moved there.
• Compare the whole plan, not the headline. Energy Made Easy advises comparing the whole plan rather than the "free power" label. Look at the supply charge and every rate outside the window.
• Compare against market offers too. The Solar Sharer Offer is one option. Some market offers may suit your pattern better.
• If you already have solar, your panels may already be covering much of your midday use. Ask your retailer how the plan treats your exports, and read our guide to solar feed-in tariffs.
• If you are thinking about a battery, how you are billed at different times of day changes the numbers. Read is a home battery worth it before you buy.
• Ask your retailer. Retailers have their own versions of the plan, so contact yours and ask about its Solar Sharer Offer.

For state-by-state rebates and programs, see our pages for NSW, Queensland and South Australia. If you want to see how a solar system might pay back on your bill, try the solar payback calculator.

Our take

We like the idea behind the Solar Sharer Offer: it gives households without panels a way to make better use of midday solar. But the word "free" is doing a lot of work. The free hours are balanced by higher rates at other times, so the only real test is your own usage data. If most of your power goes in the morning and evening, we would be cautious. If you are home during the day, charge an EV then, or can move the washing and air conditioning into the window, it is worth putting the plan side by side with a market offer. Either way, we would compare the whole plan, supply charge included, rather than the headline.