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.
Replying to @ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone
No it’s not. My bills went up by. 01 kwh and the daily up by 10c. Stop spreading misinformation.
No where in the country went up 300% you buffoon.
The peak and off-peak rates have been around for a very long time, it’s nothing new.
This is a screenshot from the AER PDF on the solar sharer program, which you can find here https://www.aer.gov.au/system/files/2026-05/AER%20-%20Solar%20Sharer%20Offer%20fact%20sheet%20-%20DMO%208%20final%20determination.pdf
I’m in Queensland, so the Energex rates apply. The base tariff rate is 26c until 11am, then free for 3 hours. Then 8c for 2 hours and then 49c between 4 and 9pm. My memory was off, and it’s only double the rate, but my point still stands. The peak time is a lot more expensive on the solar sharer plan, so you need to do the maths and make sure your usage will be shifted towards the free period and away from the peak, because if your highest usage is in the peak period and you don’t mitigate that, you could end up paying more on the solar sharer plan. You can absolutely save money on the SSO, and we use it for that reason, but you can also end up out of pocket.
