posted in Technology
Australians to get at least three hours a day of free solar power – even if they don’t have solar panels
www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/nov/03/australians-to-get-at-least-three-hours-a-day-of-free-solar-power-even-if-they-dont-have-solar-panels
The part that this headline skips over is that it’s followed by 5 hours of pricing that are 3 times the regular rate, and then the rest of the day is a rare slightly under the old rate. The expensive rate kicks in between 4pm and 9pm, which is pretty much when the solar supply eases off and dries up.
If you work from home, it’s possible to shift some of the big load equipment to early afternoon, but some, like ovens and heaters aren’t so easy to shift. You really need to do the maths to see if it works.
If you’ve got a battery, you’re in a better position, because you can use your own solar and/or the free hours to top the battery up, and then draw on it during the expensive hours. Our battery isn’t quite big enough to carry us through 5 hours, but it gets us most of the way there, so the maths made it worth us to change to the new tariff.
So it‘s time to install a smart battery if you don‘t have one already. It‘s an absolute no brainer when prices fluctuate throughout the day. You can essentially get a full load for free every day. It also takes stress from the network so you‘re ultimately doing everyone a favor too.