What is the Solar Sharer Offer?
The Solar Sharer Offer (SSO) is a federal scheme giving households three hours of free grid electricity when rooftop solar is flooding the market. South Australia is the natural home for it: on sunny days the state routinely runs on solar alone, and wholesale prices at lunchtime are often zero or negative. The scheme was announced in November 2025 by Energy Minister Chris Bowen and went live on 1 July 2026 in SA, NSW and south-east Queensland, with a possible extension to other jurisdictions flagged for 2027.
It is an opt-in regulated standing offer, mandated through the Australian Energy Regulator’s DMO 8 determination. Every retailer with 1,000 or more customers in DMO regions must offer at least one compliant plan.
The key details at a glance
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Free window (SA) | 12pm to 3pm, every day. An hour later than NSW and SEQ, matching the later SA solar peak. Fixed year-round, no daylight-saving shift |
| Start date | 1 July 2026 (mandated via the AER’s DMO 8 determination) |
| Free cap | 24 kWh per day during the window; above-cap usage billed at a "reasonable usage charge" |
| Eligibility | Residential customers with a smart meter. Renters and non-solar homes included. No smart meter? Request one and your retailer must supply it |
| How to join | Opt-in only. Ask your retailer for their Solar Sharer plan |
| Rates outside the window | Priced like the DMO time-of-use tariff, on top of SA usage rates that are already the highest in the NEM (around 40c/kWh or more on some offers) |
| Supply charge and controlled load | Full daily supply charge applies; controlled load is charged normally |
| SA reference bill | $2,334 from 1 July 2026, up 1.4% — the only DMO region where the reference bill rose |
Why the SA window is 12pm to 3pm
South Australia sits further west in its time zone than the eastern states, so the sun peaks later on the clock. The AER set the SA free window at 12pm to 3pm to line up with that later solar peak, an hour behind the 11am to 2pm window in NSW and south-east Queensland. The times are fixed all year and do not move with daylight saving.
Within the window, every kWh you draw from the grid is free, up to 24 kWh per day. Most homes never approach that cap; the exception is EV charging, where a 7 kW charger over the full three hours draws 21 kWh, all free. Usage above the cap during the window is billed at a "reasonable usage charge" rather than being free.
Will it actually save you money?
The SSO is priced like the DMO time-of-use tariff, which means higher rates outside the free window, the full daily supply charge, and controlled load billed as normal. In SA that trade-off bites harder than anywhere else: the state already has the highest usage rates in the National Electricity Market, around 40c/kWh or more on some offers, and the SA reference bill rose 1.4% to $2,334 from 1 July 2026 while every other DMO region fell.
Energy Consumers Australia modelled the scheme for a 20 kWh-a-day household on a roughly $2,800 annual bill (on the Ausgrid network, but the shape of the result carries to SA). Shifting 30% of usage into the free window while keeping 40% in the 3pm to 9pm peak left the household about $320 a year worse off. Shifting the same 30% but cutting peak usage to 20% delivered about $210 a year better off. With SA’s steeper rates, both outcomes tend to be amplified: the evening penalty is harsher, but each free kWh displaces more expensive power too.
ECA also notes the SSO is regulated standing-offer pricing, which is often dearer than competitive market plans. Retailers must warn you it may not suit you, and the Better Offer check on your bill every 100 days will flag a cheaper plan if one exists.
Will free power actually save you money?
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Calculate my savingsWho should sign up (and who should not)
Strong candidates: battery owners are the biggest winners anywhere, and especially in SA, where charging free at midday and discharging through an evening peak priced at 40c/kWh or more is a genuine double saving. EV owners who can charge between 12pm and 3pm do well, as do people home at lunchtime who can run washing, dishwashers and pool pumps in the window and pre-cool the house before the evening.
Think twice if: your household is out all day and usage lands after 3pm, because SA’s high off-window rates make that pattern expensive fast. Solar-only homes gain the least: panels already cover the midday window, so free grid power mostly displaces exports worth only around 0 to 5c/kWh. Low-usage households also see the benefit swallowed by the supply charge and dearer off-window rates.
Our take
South Australia is where the Solar Sharer makes the most physical sense and carries the most financial risk. The solar glut is real and the free power is real, but you are wrapping it in the most expensive usage rates in the NEM, in the only DMO region where the reference bill went up this year.
Our rule of thumb: with a battery or a daytime-charging EV, opt in with confidence. Without storage, only sign up if you can genuinely move a big slice of your day into the 12pm to 3pm window and keep evenings lean. Otherwise a sharp market plan, or a commercial free-hours plan with milder off-window rates, will usually win. Run the comparison before you commit.
How to sign up, and which retailers offer it
Contact your retailer and ask for their Solar Sharer plan. As at July 2026, participating retailers include Origin (as "Origin Standing Solar Sharer"), AGL, Red Energy, Engie, Dodo, OVO, Sumo and Energy Locals. EnergyAustralia missed the 1 July deadline and is expected to launch around September 2026, after Minister Bowen threatened the "full force of regulation". You need a smart meter; if you do not have one, request it and your retailer must supply it.
SA also has the strongest set of commercial alternatives of any state. AGL’s "Three for Free" (10am to 1pm) is available in SA only, alongside OVO’s "The Free 3" (11am to 2pm daily), GloBird’s FOUR4FREE (10am to 2pm), Red Energy’s free weekend hours (12pm to 2pm Saturday and Sunday) and Amber Electric’s wholesale pass-through, where SA midday prices are frequently near zero or negative. Commercial plans are unregulated outside the free window, so check the whole rate card, and compare everything at your address on Energy Made Easy.