Australia’s government is introducing a new regulated electricity offer called Solar Sharer, mandating solar electricity retailers to offer free electricity to households for a minimum of three hours in the middle of the day during peak generation.

The government is introducing this offer in July 2026 as part of its retail energy market reforms through the Default Market Offer (DMO).

DMO is a maximum price cap on electricity for customers in some regions of Australia who are on a standard or standing offer.

The offer will initially be available to all households in DMO-regulated states, including New South Wales, South East Queensland, and South Australia.

Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water said it will consult with other states to expand the offer to other jurisdictions.

It stated that the country has more solar capacity than the remaining coal-fired power stations. The considerable solar capacity results in more affordable and even negative wholesale daytime prices. This means the energy market has more electricity in the middle of the day than what is currently being used.

The department said Solar Sharer will address the gap by encouraging customers to utilize more solar power when it is abundant.

To receive the bill savings, consumers signing up for the Solar Sharer offer through their retailer must have smart meters. They must also be able to redirect their energy use to windows where electricity is available for free.

Those taking up this offer will be able to use appliances, air conditioners, swimming pool cleaners, and electric vehicles/home battery chargers during the day for free.

Solar Sharer will also lower the overall system cost by reducing peak demand during evenings. Lower evening peaks will have flow-on effects throughout the system. This will help minimize expensive peak electricity costs and reduce the need for expensive network upgrades and interventions to ensure grid stability.

The Australian Energy Regulator will regulate the offer to ensure customers get a fair deal outside of the free power period.

Australian also plans to introduce reforms to the existing DMO to eliminate unnecessary costs and ensure that the offer functions more effectively as an essential service safety net.

The changes include setting clear objectives for DMO to deliver fair, trusted, and reasonably priced electricity options, reflecting the costs of supplying customers with essential services.

In October this year, Australia invited bids for 5 GW of renewable energy projects in the National Electricity Market as part of the seventh tender under the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS), which aims to develop renewable generation and firming projects to deliver cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable energy for homes and businesses while coal is being phased out.

Earlier, in the fourth CIS auction, 20 projects were selected, delivering 6,640 MW of renewable energy, compared to the originally planned 6,000 MW.