From July 1, 2026, many Australians began to choose something that once sounded absurd: free electricity in the middle of the day. The federal government’s opt-in Solar Sharer Offer gives three hours of free power to households with smart meters in New South Wales, South Australia and south-east Queensland. Victoria’s separate scheme, too, launched in October 2026.
The policy is a direct response to a paradox at the heart of Australia’s energy transition. Approximately one in three suitable Australian homes now have rooftop solar, generating over 12 per cent of grid electricity – but that abundance of midday power has long benefited only those wealthy enough to own panels and a roof to put them on. Solar Sharer is the government’s attempt to change that.
How it works
The scheme is implemented through a change in the Default Market Offer – the regulation that caps the electricity prices retailers can charge in parts of Australia. Solar Sharer is a federal government reform that requires electricity retailers to offer residential customers a minimum three-hour window of free electricity each day, during periods of high solar generation.
This financial year, the three hours of free power run from 11 a.m to 2 p..m daily in NSW and south-east Queensland, and from noon to 3 p.m in South Australia. Australia’s energy regulator chose these times to match when solar output is highest and network and wholesale costs are lowest.
Households will need a smart meter to take advantage of the free electricity scheme. Crucially, the offer is opt-in: the scheme can only work if Australians actively opt-in and shift their electricity use – something unlikely to happen unless they are aware of the scheme, understand how it works and trust the key stakeholders.
The free power is not, however, without strings. Offering electricity for free still incurs costs for energy retailers, who will boost other usage charges to recover the missed revenue during the free window. In effect, households that cannot shift their consumption to the midday period may end up paying slightly more than before.
Who benefits – and who doesn’t
The scheme is not national because it is tied to the Default Market Offer, a regulated safety net plan for electricity customers, which only applies in NSW, South Australia and south-east Queensland.
Awareness remains a critical obstacle. In a University of Queensland survey conducted in March 2026, fewer than half of respondents had heard of the scheme. People living in the states where the scheme was set to launch in July 2026 showed no higher levels of awareness than those elsewhere.
Access is also uneven. Not everyone can shift their usage: people who are not at home during the day will struggle to benefit from the free electricity window. Renters and people in apartments may also find it harder to benefit. Research suggests that while some behaviour change is possible, people are less willing or able to move higher-consumption activities – such as electric car charging or hot water use – into the free electricity window.
Climate promises on the line
Solar Sharer has come two days before the COP31 climate summit opens in Antalya, Türkiye, where Australia is chairing the formal negotiations of a UN climate conference for the first time. Under a compromise reached at the previous summit, Türkiye hosts while Australian Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen presides over negotiations. Canberra’s stated priorities include speeding up the global shift to clean energy, boosting finance and investment, growing the green economy and elevating Pacific priorities.
At home, Australia’s commitments are measured. It has reaffirmed a legislated target of 43 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero by 2050. Its new 2035 pledge is a 62-70 per cent cut below 2005 levels across all sectors, backed by a goal of 82 per cent renewable electricity by 2030. Around half of the 2035 reductions are expected to come from more renewable generation backed by storage.
The record is contested. The 2035 target was criticised by green groups as lower than expected, and the government’s own advisers have warned that current policy settings put Australia on track for only a 51 per cent cut by 2035. Australia also has yet to commit to phasing out its ageing coal plants. Days before the summit, more than 500 Australian-based academics told the Prime Minister the country cannot lead credibly without reform. Solar Sharer is a visible domestic test of whether the government can match its diplomacy with delivery.
A different way to cut emissions
Many countries are facing the same midday solar glut. Spain logged 200 hours of negative wholesale prices in April alone, yet in countries with fixed-rate retail contracts, the majority of EU households, the impact was invisible. Elsewhere, surplus is often wasted: in Spain, large solar parks shut down automatically once prices go below zero, and in South Australia, large-scale solar farms are regularly switched off.
Australia’s approach is to pass the surplus directly to consumers. Rather than leaving the signal in wholesale markets, it requires retailers to put a free window into a regulated offer, and it targets the evening problem as much as the midday one. These schemes aim to shift household demand into periods of high solar generation, reducing midday surplus and the evening fossil-fuel ramp-up. The idea is attracting interest abroad: a Cambridge researcher has asked in a peer-reviewed paper whether Germany should follow Australia’s lead, and modelling suggests such a scheme could already have been viable there in 2025. The researcher cautions that real-world consumption patterns during free periods remain unknown and may diverge from model assumptions.
Sustainable development goals
The scheme touches several UN Sustainable Development Goals. It speaks to SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) by making cheap renewable power available to people who don't own panels. It supports SDG 13 (climate action) if it shifts demand away from fossil-fuelled evening peaks. And it links to SDG 1 (no poverty) and SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) because energy costs weigh most on low-income households.
The emissions benefit is indirect and unproven. Solar Sharer doesn’t add renewable capacity. It only helps if households actually shift their use, and as noted above, those who can’t may pay slightly more.
A wider energy cost crisis
The Solar Sharer scheme arrives against a backdrop of sharply rising power bills. Australia’s federal Energy Bill Relief Fund ended on December 31, 2025, and ABS data shows that by March 2026, electricity costs were 25.4 per cent higher year-on-year once the cushioning effect of those rebates had expired.
The government has said it will consult with other states to extend the Solar Sharer scheme nationwide after 2026. A full national rollout is potentially expected by 2027. For now, it represents one of the most ambitious attempts by any government to redistribute the gains of a renewable energy transition – turning the grid’s solar surplus into a daily public good, rather than a private windfall.
