- Where
- NSW, south-east Queensland (the Energex network) and South Australia: the Default Market Offer regions.
- Free hours
- 11am–2pm in NSW and south-east Queensland, 12pm–3pm in South Australia. Every day, in local time; the window doesn't move with daylight saving.
- Free amount
- Up to 24 kWh a day in the window. Use above that is charged at a capped rate.
- Who can get it
- Residential customers with a smart meter who aren't supplied through an embedded network. You have to opt in.
- Solar panels
- Not needed. Renters and owners can both get it.
- Still charged
- The daily supply charge, controlled load, and everything you use outside the window.
- Who must offer it
- Retailers with 1,000 or more residential customers in those regions, since 1 July 2026.
- Victoria
- Not covered. It has its own Midday Power Saver from 1 October 2026.
How the Solar Sharer Offer works
The Solar Sharer Offer is a standing offer that retailers are required by law to make available. Since 1 July 2026, the Electricity Retail Code has required every retailer with 1,000 or more residential customers in NSW, south-east Queensland and South Australia to offer it to residential customers with a smart meter. The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) sets the free window and the prices for each network as part of its yearly Default Market Offer, and the ACCC enforces the Code.
The rules were added to the Code by the Competition and Consumer (Industry Code—Electricity Retail) Amendment Regulations 2026 (F2026L00215) and updated by the Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 2026 (F2026L01036), in force from 8 August 2026. The AER's Solar Sharer Offer fact sheet sets out how it priced the first year.
What's free and what isn't
Electricity you use in the 3-hour window is free, up to 24 kWh a day. energy.gov.au says: "The free-power period does not mean your whole electricity bill is free." You still pay:
- the daily supply charge, every day
- usage charges for everything outside the window, which vary by network
- a capped "reasonable use" rate for anything over 24 kWh used in the window
- controlled load, such as a hot water system or pool pump on a controlled load tariff, even during the window (Energy Made Easy)
Why the other hours cost more
Power used in the free window still costs something to supply, so the AER added that cost to the other rates. In its words, it "estimated forgone revenue from the free usage period (including network costs) and allocated these costs to other c/kWh usage charges". For 2026-27, the AER's Solar Sharer peak rates, including GST, are 64c/kWh on Ausgrid, 49c on Endeavour Energy, 46c on Essential Energy, 49c on Energex and 59c on SA Power Networks, against off-peak rates of 26c to 38c.
| Network | Free window local time | Off-peak c/kWh, incl. GST | Peak c/kWh, incl. GST | Other usage rates c/kWh, incl. GST | Supply charge c/day, incl. GST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ausgrid | 11am–2pm (free) | 28c | 64c | – | 176c |
| Endeavour Energy | 11am–2pm (free) | 38c | 49c | 14c | 185c |
| Essential Energy | 11am–2pm (free) | 28c | 46c | 46c (morning) | 272c |
| Energex | 11am–2pm (free) | 26c | 49c | 8c (solar soak) | 178c |
| SA Power Networks | 12pm–3pm (free) | 35c | 59c | 59c (morning), 20c (solar soak) | 180c |
Source: AER: Solar Sharer Offer fact sheet, DMO 8 final determination (May 2026), Figure 3, checked 29 September 2026. These are the AER's prices for the regulated offer; retailers' own Solar Sharer plans are in the tables below.
That's why the AER says the offer "is best suited to customers who can shift some of their electricity consumption from peak usage periods into the free usage period". Before offering it, a retailer must tell you "that not shifting electricity usage to the free usage period could result in higher electricity costs". Energy Made Easy says it may not suit you if "most of your electricity use is in the morning or evening, when prices are higher", and the AER notes that people on competitively priced market offers "may not experience lower bills" from switching, even if they change their habits.
Opt-in only
A retailer can't put you on the Solar Sharer Offer unless you agree. It can't be used as a default offer, and the AER says customers can't be placed on it when they're rolled onto a deemed contract. Retailers also can't require you to move to a time-of-use network tariff before you opt in.
The free window
The AER sets the window for each network, and retailers "do not have discretion to choose their own free usage periods". For 2026-27 it's 11am–2pm in NSW and south-east Queensland, 12pm–3pm in South Australia, in local time, and it doesn't move with daylight saving. In the parts of the Essential Energy network that keep South Australian or Queensland time, it starts at 11am local time.
The Code requires the window to be 3 consecutive hours, every day, and tells the AER to consider when solar generation is high and wholesale and network costs are low in each network. So the hours can change in a later year. The AER's first guidelines on how it sets them are due by 1 December 2026.
The ACCC enforces the obligation. In August 2026 it announced that EnergyAustralia had admitted breaching the Code by failing to make a Solar Sharer Offer available from 1 July 2026.