EBENEZERClimate
Solar Sharer program was designed for homes without rooftop solar, but observers say supply and peak use charges are ‘much higher’
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Environment — Petra Stock Climate and environment reporter
A government energy deal that promised three free hours of power to houses without solar panels carries higher charges that make it an expensive option for many households, observers say.
Solar Sharer was switched on in July, with customers in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia able to opt in to the plan, which includes three free hours of electricity in the middle of day.
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Announcing the scheme last year the energy minister, Chris Bowen, said the regulated energy deal would unlock the benefits of cheap and plentiful renewable energy for more households, including those without solar panels or a battery. It was a regulated offer, he said, overseen by the Australian Energy Regulator to “ensure there’s no price gouging going on, it’s in the best interests of the consumers”.
However Gavin Gilchrist, a project manager at Inner West Community Energy, said in his part of Sydney, the supply and peak use charges on Solar Sharer were “much, much higher”, and in some cases nearly double the rate of other market offers.
Gilchrist spent weeks comparing Solar Sharer with multiple energy offers from major retailers – AGL, Energy Australia, Origin and Red Energy – using the government’s Energy Made Easy website, publishing the results in RenewEconomy.
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For example, households with one retailer would pay $1.76 in daily supply charges on Solar Sharer on the Ausgrid network, but $0.95 on another plan with the same company. Outside the free power period, the peak rate on Solar Sharer was “almost twice” the rate of the other plan: $0.64 versus $0.33 per kilowatt hour.
Given those rates, he said, most people – especially renters and apartment dwellers, at whom the scheme was aimed – would struggle to get enough value during the free period to come out on top.
“I’m not saying no one can benefit, but you’d have to work very hard to get a benefit from Solar Sharer given the price of electricity outside the three free hours is so much higher, and the daily supply charge is so much higher,” Gilchrist said.
“What was a really good idea to encourage people to use electricity in the middle of the day when we have a glut of electricity on the market, has turned into a fiasco that means virtually no one will benefit.”
Energy Consumers Australia said the design of the scheme forced consumers to make a “complex trade off between free energy in the day and higher prices in all other periods” and some could be worse off if they switch .
Solar Sharer is a regulated plan with parameters set by the Australian Energy Regulator, but a spokesperson for Bowen said it was “up to retailers to explain why they don’t want to pass on the benefits of free electricity to the consumers who can take it up”.
“The government and energy regulator continues to encourage households to check if they’re on the best energy offer, and see if solar sharer is right for them,” the spokesperson said.
Tristan Edis, a director with the consultancy Green Energy Markets, said default or regulated offers like Solar Sharer were “bad offers, almost always”.
People interested in an energy plan with a free power period, and with the capacity to shift their electricity use, should consider competitive retail market offers, he said, adding that the government could help people weigh up those options by updating Energy Made Easy to help people to find and compare “zero-cost, middle-of-the-day offers”.
Heidi Lee Douglas, the chief executive of Solar Citizens, said Solar Sharer was meant to be about sharing the benefits of abundant solar power more broadly.
“So many people we thought would benefit from the Solar Sharer offer are not,” she said. “We’re calling on the regulator to investigate whether the policy is actually delivering what Australians were promised.”
Solar Sharer was switched on in July, with customers in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia able to opt in to the plan, which includes three free hours of electricity in the middle of day.
This report is published with credit to theguardian.com. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on theguardian.com →
Source: theguardian.com · Petra Stock Climate and environment reporter. Published 27 Aug 2026, 03:00 pm.
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