What Is Solar Sharer? Free Electricity Hours in Queensland Explained
Solar Sharer gives Queensland households free power from 11am to 2pm every day, up to 24 kWh. How it works, who is eligible and whether it will lower your bill.
Solar Sharer is a federal electricity offer that gives Queensland households free power from 11am to 2pm every day, up to 24 kWh a day. It started on 1 July 2026. You need a smart meter and you have to opt in with your retailer, but you do not need solar panels.
What is Solar Sharer?
Solar Sharer is a regulated electricity offer set by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) as part of the Default Market Offer. The idea is simple: in the middle of the day, rooftop solar floods the grid with cheap power, so households are given a free window to use it.
Every electricity retailer with more than 1,000 customers in the Default Market Offer regions must offer a Solar Sharer plan. Those regions include South East Queensland on the Energex network, New South Wales and South Australia. The ACCC enforces the rules.
When is electricity free in Queensland?
On a Solar Sharer plan, power is free from 11am to 2pm, every day of the year.
- The window is set by the AER, so it is the same with every retailer. Retailers cannot pick their own free hours for Solar Sharer.
- Queensland has no daylight saving, so the window never moves.
- In regional Queensland the equivalent tariff (12F) uses the same 11am to 2pm window.
Some retailers sell their own market plans with free periods at other times. Those are separate products, not Solar Sharer, so check the plan name and terms.
Who is eligible?
You can opt in if you are a residential customer with a smart meter (also called an advanced digital meter).
- South East Queensland (Energex): ask your retailer for their Solar Sharer Offer, or switch to a retailer that has one.
- Regional Queensland (Ergon): regional Queensland is not part of the Default Market Offer, but the Queensland Competition Authority approved a matching tariff, called 12F, from 1 July 2026. It is offered to standard contract customers, mainly through Ergon Retail.
- Solar is not required. Renters and homes without panels can use the free window too.
You will not be moved onto Solar Sharer automatically. Retailers must tell you it may not suit everyone and get your agreement before switching you.
Is there a limit on the free power?
Yes. Free use is capped at 24 kWh per day during the window. The AER describes that as roughly a five-person household moving its whole day's usage into the free hours, so most homes will not reach it.
In South East Queensland, anything above the cap is charged at the plan's 2pm to 4pm rate rather than the peak rate. For 2026-27 the AER's maximum for that rate on Energex is about 8.1 cents per kWh. Some retailers apply the cap as an average across the billing period instead of strictly each day, so check your retailer's terms.
Will Solar Sharer lower my bill?
Not automatically. The cost of the free hours is recovered at other times of day, so:
- rates outside the free window are typically 1 to 4 cents per kWh higher than a standard time-of-use plan
- the daily supply charge still applies
- the 4pm to 9pm peak rate is the most expensive part of the day
It works best for households that can move usage into the middle of the day: running the dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, pool pump or air conditioning between 11am and 2pm, or charging an electric vehicle then. If most of your use happens in the evening and you cannot shift it, a different plan may be cheaper. The government comparison site, Energy Made Easy, lists Solar Sharer plans alongside other offers.
How do I get Solar Sharer?
- Check you have a smart meter. It is a requirement.
- Look at your current retailer's Solar Sharer Offer, or compare plans on Energy Made Easy.
- Compare the rates outside the free window, the supply charge and the feed-in tariff with your current plan.
- Ask your retailer to switch you. It is opt-in, so nothing changes until you agree.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Charging a battery from the grid during the free window counts as usage, so it is free up to the 24 kWh cap. The federal government named charging home batteries and electric vehicles as intended uses when it announced the offer.
That makes a battery more useful on Solar Sharer: it can fill up for free in the middle of the day and power the house through the expensive evening peak. Our guide to how solar and batteries reduce power bills explains how stored energy offsets evening usage, and home battery storage covers the batteries themselves.
The Solar Sharer rules do not set a feed-in tariff. Your retailer chooses the export rate on its Solar Sharer plan, and South East Queensland has no regulated minimum. If you export a lot of solar, compare the feed-in rate before switching, because a low export rate can cancel out the savings. Regional Queensland has a regulated flat feed-in tariff, set by the QCA each year. Our feed-in tariff guide explains how export payments work.
If you already have solar, your panels cover most of your daytime use anyway. The free window matters most if you have a battery or an EV to charge, or if your daytime use is more than your panels produce.
The AER is collecting data from retailers in late 2026 and may consult on changes during the 2027-28 Default Market Offer process in early 2027. The federal government has also committed to reviewing the offer within two years of it starting. We will update this article if the window, cap or eligibility changes.
For the background on how the offer was introduced in South East Queensland, see our earlier post on three hours of free power in South East Queensland.