{"id":771995,"date":"2026-07-01T11:57:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T11:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/771995\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T11:57:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T11:57:15","slug":"solar-sharer-scheme-electricity-bills-could-rise-despite-the-governments-three-hours-of-free-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/771995\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Sharer scheme: Electricity bills could rise despite the government\u2019s three hours of free power"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Households could face higher bills after signing up for a new government scheme providing three hours of free electricity each day as power retailers warn of increased rates outside the free window.<\/p>\n

The Albanese government\u2019s Solar Sharer program, which took effect on Wednesday, is an attempt to spread the benefits of the clean energy transition by compelling retailers to offer free electricity to opt-in customers from 11am to 2pm, when rooftop solar regularly floods the grid with more supply than it needs and often causes prices to crater.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Solar Sharer scheme kicked off on July 1.<\/p>\n

Government calculations suggest a typical two-person home could save hundreds of dollars a year by shifting power-hungry appliances, such as dishwashers and washing machines, into the free midday window.<\/p>\n

However, because the vast majority of Australians are on electricity plans that are already cheaper than the maximum government-regulated prices, switching to Solar Sharer means moving to a different pay structure.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Three<\/a><\/p>\n

The rules set by the Australian Energy Regulator, which compel retailers to offer a Solar Sharer plan, also set upper limit on rates for the rest of the day, which are often higher than competitive retail plans.<\/p>\n

In some instances, customers have been told by their retailers that moving to Solar Sharer may cause their overall bills to increase unless they can drastically change their power-usage pattern.<\/p>\n

One electricity customer, Gareth from Sydney, said his retail provider advised him that it would be \u201ccommercially unrealistic\u201d to switch to their Solar Sharer plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have an electric car, but I can put my dishwasher on at 11 o\u2019clock and my washing machine and whatever. But the fact that they\u2019ve changed all the pricing \u2026 what I have at the moment is pretty competitive running daytime power anyway,\u201d Gareth said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a little bit disillusioned, if that\u2019s the right word. But I\u2019ll shop around and look at other retailers and see if they\u2019re any different, but it just seems like the power companies are just taking this opportunity just to claw it all back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another Sydney customer, Doug, said he was told his charges would rise outside the midday window.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought great, I\u2019ll put the pool pump on that time instead of 6am and I\u2019ll make sure I do things in those three hours, so I phoned my supplier and the lady said if you go on this plan, then your other plan is cancelled and you have to pay more on the rest of the day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I don\u2019t know. Do you think that\u2019s three hours of free electricity?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Albanese government\u2019s Solar Sharer regulations force electricity retailers to offer plans that include a free three-hour period from 11am to 2pm in NSW, South-East Queensland and South Australia. An equivalent state scheme starts on October 1 in Victoria. It is available to all houses and apartments, with and without solar panels, as long as they have a smart meter and they opt in to the new plans.<\/p>\n

Australia is a world leader in uptake of rooftop solar panels, with around 4.5 million installed around the country. It is also in the middle of an energy transition to replace ageing coal plants with solar and wind farms, backed by large batteries.<\/p>\n

Independent MP Dai Le said in Parliament on Wednesday that free power was available only when most families in her electorate were at work. She asked Energy Minister Chris Bowen if he could rule out power bills going up for everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan the government guarantee this isn\u2019t this a give with one hand and take with the other scheme?\u201d Le asked.<\/p>\n

Bowen said that Solar Sharer is not for everyone, but it would deliver benefits for people who could shift their electricity consumption.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those people who can move power to the middle of the day \u2026 it is a very good option for them. That is why we are requiring energy companies to deliver it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Renewable<\/a><\/p>\n

Representatives from the nation\u2019s largest power retailers have signalled that they support the reform\u2019s intent, but industry leaders have previously warned that the timeframe for Solar Sharer\u2019s introduction has been rushed.<\/p>\n

They had called for it to be delayed until mid-2027 to avoid unintended consequences. One of the central concerns was that the scheme could drive up prices at other times of the day unless there were also simultaneous reforms to cut underlying costs, such as network tariffs for the use of power line infrastructure, which account for about one-third of a typical bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhilst Solar Sharer provides three free hours of electricity per day, prices outside that three-hour window are higher and differ depending on network providers,\u201d an Australian Energy Council spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis offer is only likely to benefit customers able to shift a significant proportion of their energy usage to the middle of the day.\u2033<\/p>\n

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"MikeMike Foley<\/a> is the climate and energy correspondent for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.\"NickNick Toscano<\/a> is a business reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-771995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}