The Solar Sharer Offer in South East Queensland, explained

What is the Solar Sharer Offer?

From 1 July 2026, electricity retailers with more than 1,000 customers in the Default Market Offer regions must offer at least one plan with three free hours of electricity in the middle of the day. In South East Queensland that window is 11am to 2pm. The scheme is an Australian Government policy, set out on energy.gov.au, and the terms retailers must meet are fixed by the Australian Energy Regulator through its 2026–27 Default Market Offer. The idea is to soak up the flood of rooftop solar that pushes wholesale prices to zero or below at lunchtime, by giving households a reason to use it then.

What is the catch?

A Solar Sharer plan is a plan, not a discount on the one you are on. The government’s own page says it plainly: the free period does not make your whole bill free, and you still pay for electricity used outside the three hours and your daily supply charge. The retailer still needs to cover its costs, so the free window is paid for somewhere else on the bill: typically a higher usage rate outside the window, a higher supply charge, a lower feed-in tariff, or a combination. Two retailers can both offer “three free hours” and price the other 21 quite differently.

That means the question is never “is the Solar Sharer Offer good?” It is “does this particular Solar Sharer plan beat the best ordinary plan, on my usage, given what I could realistically move into the window?”

Who comes out ahead?

Homes that can put a real share of their electricity use between 11am and 2pm:

• Homes without solar where someone is around in the middle of the day, or where appliances can be put on timers. Every kilowatt-hour moved into the window is free instead of paid at the full rate.
• Pool owners. A pool pump is one of the biggest loads in a Queensland home and does not care when it runs. Three hours at lunchtime covers most of a daily filtration cycle.
• EV owners who can charge at home during the day. This is the one case where the 24 kWh cap can actually bind.
• Electric hot water not on a controlled load. A timer that heats the tank at midday turns a large evening or overnight cost into nothing.
• Anyone who can pre-cool the house with the air-conditioner in the window on hot days, rather than starting it at 5pm.

Who probably does not?

• Homes with rooftop solar. Between 11am and 2pm you are mostly running on your own panels already, so there is not much grid electricity in the window to make free. What you give up in the other 21 hours, and in the feed-in rate, usually costs more than what you gain. There are exceptions (a small system, a big daytime load), which is why we price both cases.
• Homes that are empty all day with an evening peak and nothing on a timer. The window goes unused and the higher evening rate is paid in full.
• Homes with a basic accumulation meter. The plan needs a smart meter to know when you used the electricity. You can ask your retailer for one, but it is a step.

How do you tell whether it is worth it for your home?

Price the Solar Sharer plan twice: once on your usage as it is today, and once with the loads you would genuinely move. If it only wins in the second case, the saving depends on you changing a habit, and the report should say so plainly. If it wins in the first case too, it is a straightforward switch.

You can do the first comparison yourself on the regulator’s free site, Energy Made Easy, which lists every Solar Sharer plan alongside the ordinary ones. That is how My Energy Agent shows it: two lines on the forecast, “as you use energy today” and “if you shift the recommended loads”, with a dollar figure on each. The difference between them is what the habit change is worth.

Three details worth knowing

• The retailers encode the free window in the regulator’s plan data in two different ways (a zero-rate time band, and a stepped band whose first 24 kWh are free). They come to the same thing, but a comparison tool has to handle both or it will price one of them wrong.
• The free hours apply to general usage. Electricity on a controlled-load circuit (Tariff 31 or 33) is metered and priced separately, so a hot water system on a controlled load does not get the free window unless it is moved off it.
• Like every market offer, a Solar Sharer plan can be repriced by the retailer. A plan that wins on 1 July can lose by Christmas, which is why we keep checking.