The Solar Sharer Offer is the genuinely new thing in this year's Default Market Offer. The Australian Energy Regulator has, for the first time, required retailers with more than 1,000 customers across the DMO regions to make available a standing offer whose defining feature is a designated free power period: three hours in the middle of the day when usage is not charged at all.
The free window, region by region
| Region | Free period (local time) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| NSW (Ausgrid, Endeavour, Essential) | 11am to 2pm | Fixed year-round; does not shift with daylight saving |
| South east Queensland (Energex) | 11am to 2pm | Fixed year-round |
| South Australia (SA Power Networks) | 12pm to 3pm | Fixed year-round; does not shift with daylight saving |
Source: AER Solar Sharer Offer fact sheet, May 2026. Usage above 24 kWh within the free window in a day is charged at a "reasonable usage" rate. A smart meter is required; rooftop solar is not.
What it is for
The AER's stated aim is to let households benefit from Australia's abundant midday solar generation whether or not they own panels. In the middle of the day the grid is awash with cheap solar power; the offer moves some of that abundance to households that can move their consumption into it. It is opt-in only: nobody is rolled onto it, and retailers must make it available rather than push it.
The catch, in the regulator's own words
This is not free money, and unusually, the regulator says so itself. The fact sheet states that customers whose consumption patterns differ from the AER's modelled estimates, "or those who are on competitively priced market offers may not experience lower bills from transferring to the Solar Sharer Offer even if they change their behaviour". Its Figure 2 models a household that shifts some usage into the free window but also increases usage outside it, and ends up with a higher bill than before. The offer's usage charges outside the free window follow the region's time-of-use structure, so what you do at 6pm still costs 6pm prices.
One more anchor worth knowing before comparing: in the AER's final determination price tables, the Solar Sharer Offer's annual comparison price at the benchmark usage is the same as the time-of-use DMO price in each region ($1,893 Ausgrid, $2,320 Endeavour, $2,530 Essential, $1,914 Energex, $2,276 SA Power Networks). The saving is not built into the plan's headline price. It exists only if your household actually moves load into the free window.
Who it suits
- Households where someone is home in the middle of the day, or whose big appliances run on timers: dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, pool pump.
- Households with an electric hot water system that can be timed to heat in the window rather than overnight.
- EV owners who can charge at home between 11am and 2pm (or 12pm and 3pm in SA). Note the free window is capped: usage above 24 kWh inside it is charged at the reasonable-usage rate, so check that figure against your charger's output.
- Households on standing offers who have not compared plans in years; the offer gives them a regulated alternative with a real, if conditional, upside.
Who it does not suit
- Households empty from 9 to 5 with nothing on a timer: there is little usage to shift, and evening usage is charged at time-of-use rates.
- Anyone already on a sharply discounted market offer. The AER names this group directly; compare against your current plan on Energy Made Easy, the government comparison tool for the DMO states, before moving.
- Anyone who would simply add extra midday usage on top of their current pattern. The AER's Figure 2 household did exactly that, and paid more.
- Victorians, Western Australians and Territorians: the offer exists only in the DMO regions. Victoria's own default offer instead has a cheap 11am to 4pm "solar soak" period in its time-of-use structure, which is a different mechanism.
Retailers had to have the offer available from 1 July 2026. If you want it, you have to ask your retailer, or any retailer with more than 1,000 customers in your region, for their Solar Sharer Offer by name.