Most coverage of the Solar Sharer Offer (SSO) treats it as a policy designed for households without solar panels. But for solar owners, the real question isn’t “do I get free power?”, it’s how often do I still pay for electricity, and when can I avoid it? Because even a good rooftop solar system doesn’t eliminate grid purchases: bad weather days, winter output drops, and high baseline demand (fridges, extra freezers, hot water top-ups, cooking, air conditioning, and the constant always-on loads) keep drawing power whether the sun shows up or not.
Midday free power can help solar-powered homes close that gap by giving you a fixed, predictable window to run controllable loads at zero usage cost, and that’s where the savings actually stack up, particularly for high-usage households. If you’ve got a battery, it can also improve how you “shape” the day: preserving stored energy for later, reducing evening imports, and making the system feel more useful on low-sun days. In practice, the offer rewards homes that can shift demand with smart appliances, timers, and basic home automation, turning the free window into lower power bills and a shorter payback period on the solar (and battery) investment you’ve already made.
What Is Midday Free Power In Australia?
Midday free power is a plan feature where your electricity retailer sets a daily window around the middle of the day and charges $0 for the energy you use during that period. It exists because Australia’s grid often has its highest solar energy supply in the middle of the day, driven by rooftop solar panels and large scale renewables. When supply is high, prices and grid conditions tend to be more favourable. The Solar Sharer Offer is designed to pull household electricity demand into that window so more of that midday solar output is actually used, rather than pushed into the grid and constrained by local grid capacity.
It is important to read “free” correctly. It is not a free bill, it is a free usage rate during a set time block. You still have fixed supply charges, and outside the free window your electricity plan works like any other market offer, with its own tariffs and pricing. That is why the value of midday free power is behavioural. The households that win are the ones that can deliberately move flexible loads into the free window using smart appliances, timers, and basic home automation.
For solar powered households, this matters because the free window sits right where your solar system is usually strongest, but not always. On bad weather days, in winter, or in homes with high baseline loads, midday still includes plenty of grid imports. Midday free power is a way to reduce what you pay for those imports, while the broader system benefits through better use of surplus solar energy and less pressure during peak demand.
How The Solar Sharer Offer Helps Solar Powered And Solar And Battery Homes
For solar powered households, the Solar Sharer Offer is not about replacing rooftop solar. It is about reducing the amount of household electricity you still buy from the grid when solar output is not carrying the home. That gap shows up most on bad weather days, in winter, and in high usage homes where baseline loads run all day regardless of season. Fridges, extra freezers, hot water systems, cooking, air conditioning, and the always on background load do not pause just because solar energy is low. Midday free power reduces the cost of those grid imports during the free window, which can materially lower power bills even in homes with solar panels.
The second benefit is control. Many households export solar energy at midday and then pay electricity prices later when demand rises. The Solar Sharer Scheme flips the incentive so you consume more during the midday window and less during peak demand. This is where smart appliances, home automation, and a smart meter turn the electricity offer into real savings. If you can schedule hot water, pre cool the house, run laundry, or charge devices during the free period, you reduce grid electricity use later when tariffs and peak electricity prices are typically higher. That is also why this matters for self consumption, not just feed in tariffs and exported solar.
For solar and battery homes, the offer adds a third lever. Battery systems are most valuable when they cover the expensive hours. Midday free power can help you preserve stored energy for later by shifting daytime demand into the free window. On low sun days, it can also keep the battery useful by reducing the daytime cost of keeping the house running. In some solar systems, households may be able to schedule battery charging during the free period, which can reduce evening imports, although the outcome depends on battery settings, hybrid inverters, retailer plan rules, and local grid conditions. Either way, the core advantage is improved day to night planning, fewer paid imports, and a shorter payback period on home batteries and solar panels.
Who Is Eligible For 3 Hours Free Electricity?
Eligibility mainly comes down to where you live and whether your household electricity use can be measured in time blocks.
The Solar Sharer Offer is designed for Default Market Offer regions, which means it is targeted at New South Wales, South Australia, and South East Queensland at launch. Households also need a smart meter, because the free electricity period is a timed window and your energy retailer has to separately measure what you use during those hours versus the rest of the day.
It is also designed as an opt in electricity offer, not an opt out default. That means eligible households do not automatically receive midday free power. You have to actively choose the Solar Sharer Offer as your electricity plan, then use the free window deliberately to make it worthwhile. This applies to solar powered homes and solar and battery homes as much as it does to households without solar panels.
How To Get The Solar Sharer Offer, And What To Do Next
The Solar Sharer Offer is opt in. You get it by switching to a participating electricity plan through your energy retailer, then using the free power window deliberately.
Households in New South Wales, South Australia, and South East Queensland should be able to start opting in from 1 July 2026, when the offer is slated to begin in Default Market Offer regions.
What to do next is simple. Confirm you have a smart meter. Check what you currently pay in supply charges and tariffs. Compare the Solar Sharer Offer against other market offers from electricity retailers. Then set up your household routine for the free window with smart appliances, timers, and any battery settings that help you reduce grid electricity use outside the free period.
What Appliances Should You Run During The Free Power Window?
The goal is to move the biggest flexible loads into the midday window, so you reduce household electricity you would otherwise buy later from the grid. Start with appliances that either store energy as heat, shift comfort, or run on a schedule.
Hot water is usually the highest impact. Electric hot water systems and heat pump hot water can be timed to heat during the free period, which is effectively turning midday free electricity into stored hot water for showers, dishes, and laundry later. If you have PV Heater Control, this is the same idea but backed by an electricity offer rather than solar output alone.
Heating and cooling is next. Use air conditioning to pre cool the home during the free window so the house coasts through the afternoon and evening with less demand. In summer heatwaves, this can materially reduce peak demand usage when tariffs and peak prices bite. The same logic applies to reverse cycle heating in winter.
Laundry and kitchen loads are easy wins if they are programmable. Washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, and ovens can be run in the window, ideally staggered rather than stacked on top of each other. If you have smart appliances, or even basic timers, this becomes automatic. Home automation platforms can also handle scheduling, and Wi Fi energy meters can help you see whether the load shifting is actually working.
Pool pumps and filtration should be moved into the free window if you have them. They are steady, predictable loads that many households still run during paid hours out of habit. Dehumidifiers are similar in homes that use them year round.
Electric vehicle charging is a major opportunity for EV owners. If you have smart EV chargers, you can schedule charging during the free period and reduce what you pay at other times. For Vehicle to Grid setups, the broader direction is the same, align charging and household demand with periods of high renewable generation and lower wholesale electricity prices.
For solar and battery households, treat the free window as the time to run controllable loads first, then decide how you want the battery to behave for the rest of the day. The best outcome is usually keeping the battery available for the expensive hours, while using the free window to cover baseline loads and high draw appliances that would otherwise push you into paid grid electricity later.
What To Do Next
If you want to maximise the Solar Sharer Offer long term, the lever is not your dishwasher. It is whether your solar system and battery storage are sized and designed to take advantage of a daily free electricity window while still protecting you during the expensive hours. For many households, a 10 kWh class battery is the point where the system starts to meaningfully cover evening demand, and higher usable storage can push savings further when the home has high baseline loads and high night time consumption.
The right outcome comes down to design. Solar panels sized for your actual household electricity profile. A battery system that is large enough to matter. And an inverter and battery setup tuned to reduce what you buy from the grid outside the free window, especially on low sun days.
If you are planning a new system or a battery upgrade, Solar Water Wind can design and install solar panels and home batteries with the Solar Sharer Offer in mind so you are not locked into a system that only performs well on perfect sun days.
