For the first time, eligible households can access a daily period of free grid electricity in the middle of the day, regardless of whether they already have solar installed. The Solar Sharer Offer gives households with a smart meter access to free electricity between 11 am and 2 pm, creating new opportunities to shift energy use, charge a battery or make better use of existing solar generation.
The real question is whether a household can use enough electricity during those free hours to make the plan worthwhile. For some homes, that could mean running energy intensive appliances or charging an electric vehicle during the day. For others, it may involve charging a battery for use later, while households with solar will need to weigh the free usage period against their own solar production, feed in tariff and the rates charged outside those hours.
How Does The Solar Sharer Offer Work?
The Solar Sharer Offer is an optional electricity plan available to eligible households with a smart meter. In New South Wales, the free usage period runs from 11 am to 2 pm every day, with up to 24 kWh of electricity available at no usage charge during those three hours. Major retailers currently offering a Solar Sharer plan include AGL, Origin Energy, EnergyAustralia, Red Energy and Alinta Energy, although other eligible electricity retailers are also required to make the offer available.
The free period does not mean the entire electricity plan is free. Usage above the 24 kWh daily allowance can attract a charge, while electricity used outside those hours is billed at the applicable electricity rates. Depending on the retailer and network tariff, those rates can include considerably higher peak rates, and the household will still pay its daily supply charge.
This is why the Solar Sharer Offer needs to be assessed against the total cost of the electricity plan, not just the three free hours. A household that can move a meaningful amount of energy use into the free period may reduce its electricity costs, but those savings can be eroded if most of its electricity is still being purchased from the grid during more expensive peak usage periods. That does not mean the offer is difficult to make worthwhile, however. There are several ways households can adjust when they use or store electricity to take much greater advantage of the free period.
How Can You Benefit Without Solar Panels Or A Battery?
You do not need solar panels or a home battery to benefit from the Solar Sharer Offer. For households buying all of their electricity from the grid, the simplest strategy is to move as much existing energy use as possible into the free usage period between 11 am and 2 pm.
That could mean running the dishwasher, washing machine or dryer during the day, heating or cooling the home before peak rates begin, running a pool pump or charging an electric vehicle. Hot water can also represent a significant portion of household energy usage, although systems connected to a controlled load circuit may need to be considered separately. Timers and smart settings can make much of this automatic, so taking advantage of the free power does not necessarily mean reorganising the household around a three hour window.
The potential saving becomes clearer when you look at the electricity rates outside those hours. Under the 2026–27 regulated Solar Sharer tariff caps, an Ausgrid household can pay up to 63.72 cents per kWh during the evening peak in applicable months. Moving 5 kWh of electricity that would otherwise have been used during that peak into the free period could therefore avoid around $3.19 in usage charges that day. Peak rates differ across NSW, reaching 48.75 cents per kWh on Endeavour Energy and 45.57 cents per kWh on Essential Energy, so the value of shifting energy use will also depend on where the property is located.
The important question is therefore not simply whether you can use some free electricity, but how much paid electricity you can replace with it. A household with an electric vehicle, pool, electric hot water or substantial heating and cooling has far more opportunity to shift meaningful energy usage than a home that only moves a dishwasher or a load of laundry. The more electricity that can be moved away from expensive peak usage periods, the stronger the case for switching plans.
Could A Battery Make Free Electricity Useful After Sunset?
A home battery creates one of the most useful opportunities under the Solar Sharer Offer because it allows free electricity from the middle of the day to be stored and used later. This is a form of load shifting, where electricity is charged into the battery when energy is free or inexpensive and discharged when grid electricity is more expensive. Instead of trying to squeeze all of the household’s energy use into the 11 am to 2 pm window, some of that free power can effectively be carried into the afternoon and evening. The Australian Government specifically identifies home battery charging as one way households can make greater use of the free period.
For households that already have rooftop solar, a DC coupled battery is commonly integrated with the solar system through a hybrid inverter. Solar panels produce DC electricity, which can charge the battery directly before the inverter converts electricity to AC for use around the home. This makes DC coupling particularly efficient for storing excess solar generation. Under the Solar Sharer Offer, however, the battery may also be able to charge from the grid during the free period if the hybrid inverter and system configuration support grid charging. The battery can then discharge later when solar output has fallen and electricity rates are higher.
This introduces another decision for solar households. On a sunny day, it may make sense to charge the battery from rooftop solar as usual. In other circumstances, smart settings could allow the battery to make use of free grid electricity while more of the home’s solar generation is used elsewhere or exported to the grid. The best charging strategy will depend on the feed in tariff, battery capacity, inverter capability, electricity rates and how much energy the household normally uses after sunset.
There is also an interesting option for households that do not have solar panels at all. An AC coupled battery has its own battery inverter and can be installed independently of rooftop solar, allowing electricity from the grid to be converted and stored during the free usage period before being converted back to AC electricity for use later. This could make battery storage relevant to households that cannot install solar, do not want rooftop solar, or simply want to use the Solar Sharer Offer for load shifting.
The economics of a battery only system need to be assessed more carefully. The battery must have enough charging capacity to store a meaningful amount of electricity within the three hour window, some energy is lost through the charging and discharging process, and the installation cost still needs to be recovered through avoided electricity costs. Importantly, a battery installed without rooftop solar is not eligible for the Australian Government’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program, sometimes referred to as the Federal Battery Rebate, because the battery must be connected to a new or existing solar PV system to qualify.
That does not necessarily make an AC coupled battery without solar unworkable. For a household with substantial evening energy usage and high peak rates, being able to repeatedly charge a battery with free power and use that stored electricity later could materially change the feasibility assessment. Whether it makes financial sense will ultimately come down to the battery cost, usable capacity, charging speed, energy losses and the amount of paid grid electricity it could realistically replace.
What Changes If You Already Have Solar Panels?
For a household with solar panels, the Solar Sharer Offer has less immediate value because the 11 am to 2 pm free usage period overlaps with the part of the day when rooftop solar output is usually strongest. Much of the home’s daytime electricity use may already be covered by its own solar system, meaning there is less need to draw from the grid in the first place.
The offer can still be useful when household energy use exceeds solar production, or when output is reduced by cloud, shading or seasonal conditions. Larger loads such as air conditioning, electric vehicle charging or hot water may also use more electricity than the solar system is producing at that moment, allowing the shortfall to come from the grid during the free period rather than at the normal electricity rate.
It is also important to understand what happens to your solar while you are using electricity at home. Your home will generally use the electricity produced by your solar panels first. If the panels are producing more than the household needs, the excess solar is exported to the grid and may earn a feed in tariff. If the home needs more electricity than the panels are producing, the remaining electricity is drawn from the grid. This means you cannot usually choose to take free electricity from the grid while separately exporting all of your solar generation. How much value the Solar Sharer Offer provides will depend on your solar output, household consumption, feed in tariff and the way the system is configured.
For households with both solar and a battery, the decision becomes whether it is more valuable to charge the battery from rooftop solar or use free grid electricity during the Solar Sharer period. That calculation will depend on solar output, battery capacity, expected evening energy use, electricity rates and the value of any solar that could otherwise be exported.
What Changes If You Already Have Solar Panels?
For a household with solar panels, the Solar Sharer Offer has less immediate value because the 11 am to 2 pm free usage period overlaps with the part of the day when rooftop solar output is usually strongest. If the solar system is already covering most of the home’s daytime electricity use, there is naturally less need to draw free power from the grid.
That does not mean the offer has little value. Free grid electricity can still cover any shortfall when household demand rises above solar production, or when output is reduced by cloud, shading or seasonal conditions. Larger loads such as air conditioning, electric vehicle charging, hot water, pool pumps, dishwashers and laundry can also be shifted into the free period, particularly where the solar system is not large enough to supply everything at once. In these situations, the grid can make up the difference without the normal usage charge.
The feed in tariff also matters. A household will generally use its own solar generation first, with any excess exported to the grid. If that exported electricity earns only a small feed in tariff, there may be less value in prioritising solar exports over using more energy during the free period. The calculation becomes a balance between what the retailer pays for exported solar and how much the household can save by reducing paid electricity use elsewhere in the day.
A battery creates even more flexibility. Rather than relying only on excess solar to charge it, a compatible system may be able to use free grid electricity to top up the battery during the Solar Sharer window and preserve that stored energy for later, when electricity rates are higher. Smart settings may also allow the household to use free grid electricity during the day while keeping the battery charged for the evening peak.
For solar households, the opportunity is therefore less about simply gaining three hours of free electricity and more about coordinating solar production, household energy use, battery charging and exports more effectively. The greatest value is likely to come from using the free period to reduce the amount of expensive grid electricity the household needs later in the day.
