Free Midday Electricity in NSW

A new electricity offer is on the way for NSW households, and it’s already getting plenty of attention. The Solar Sharer Offer is designed to give eligible homes three free hours of electricity in the middle of the day, helping Australians use more of the abundant solar energy already flowing through the grid. For Sydney homeowners, it could become a useful way to cut running costs, especially if you have solar, a battery, or an EV.

But here’s the key point: this is not a simple “free power for everyone, all day” plan. It is an opt-in retail offer tied to the Default Market Offer framework, and it will only be available to eligible households in NSW, South Australia and South East Queensland from 1 July 2026. Homes will also need a smart meter to access it.

The Solar Sharer Offer is a new regulated electricity offer designed to make better use of Australia’s huge midday solar generation. The idea is simple: when rooftop solar is pumping and electricity demand is lower, households are encouraged to shift more of their usage into that daytime window instead of the usual evening peak.

Australia now has more than 4 million rooftop solar installations, and the government says the country has so much solar in the middle of the day that wholesale prices can become very low, and sometimes even negative. The Solar Sharer Offer is designed to turn that surplus into something households can actually use.

Under the AER’s draft determination, the free usage period in NSW and South East Queensland is set at 11am to 2pm, while South Australia is set at 12pm to 3pm. The new offer takes effect from 1 July 2026, but the final determination is still due in late May 2026, so it is worth watching for any final changes.

The scheme is also not Australia-wide yet. At this stage, the official rollout is for the DMO regions only: NSW, South Australia and South East Queensland. The federal government has said it is considering equivalent options in other parts of the country later on.

No, and that’s one of the biggest talking points. The offer is intended to be available to households with or without rooftop solar, and to both homeowners and renters, provided they have a smart meter and sign up through their retailer.

That said, households with solar may still be in a stronger position to get value from the change, because they are already thinking about daytime generation, self-consumption, export tariffs and smarter energy habits. For many Sydney homeowners, the Solar Sharer Offer will be less about replacing solar and more about making a good solar setup work even harder. This is an inference based on how the offer rewards daytime usage and how existing solar households already shift and manage load

There’s an important detail here: the Solar Sharer Offer is not simply “bonus free electricity” layered onto today’s pricing. According to the AER, the offer is designed to have the same annual cost as the Default Market Offer time-of-use tariff, but with free energy in the middle of the day and slightly higher prices outside that window, around 1 to 4 cents per kWh more in other periods.

In plain English, that means households that don’t shift any usage may not come out ahead. Households that do move enough energy use into the free period, things like laundry, dishwashers, hot water, pool pumps, air conditioning, EV charging or battery charging, are the ones most likely to benefit.

For Sydney homeowners already considering solar, this policy makes one thing even clearer: timing matters. It is no longer just about how much solar you generate. It is also about when your household uses electricity, what you export, and whether your system is set up to help you shift daytime energy into the hours that matter most.

If your household is busy during the day, a good solar and battery setup can still be incredibly valuable because it helps you capture energy, reduce grid reliance and use stored power later in the afternoon and evening when tariffs are usually higher. The government has also explicitly said households on Solar Sharer may use the free window to charge home batteries and EVs during the day.

For many households, yes, but the answer depends on your usage profile. Free midday electricity is helpful, but it does not eliminate evening demand. In most homes, the expensive part of the day is still later in the afternoon and evening, when solar production drops and people arrive home, cook, heat or cool the house, and use more appliances. The whole purpose of Solar Sharer is to reduce that evening peak.

That is why batteries still matter. A well-designed battery can help store cheaper or self-generated energy and make it available when the sun goes down. For Sydney households comparing solar-only versus solar-plus-battery, the better question is not “Will free midday electricity make batteries pointless?” It’s “How should my system be sized to suit the way my home actually uses power?” That second question is where good advice matters most.

The households most likely to benefit will be the ones that can move flexible loads into the middle of the day. Think:

• washing machines and dryers
• dishwashers
• pool pumps
• electric hot water systems
• air conditioning
• EV charging
• battery charging

Those are exactly the kinds of loads government material has highlighted as suitable for the free-power period.

The Solar Sharer Offer is a smart sign of where the market is heading: more value for households that can use energy when solar is abundant, not just when they need it most. For Sydney homes, that makes solar, batteries, EV chargers and smarter energy scheduling even more relevant, not less.

The main takeaway is this: don’t just chase the headline about free electricity. Look at the full tariff, your daytime usage, your evening demand and whether your home would benefit more from solar only, solar plus battery, or a full solar-battery-EV setup. The right system is the one that fits the way your household actually lives.

Want to make the most of new electricity tariffs in Sydney? MPV Solar can help you choose the right solar, battery and EV charging setup for the way your home uses power. Talk to our team for honest advice and a tailored energy solution.