Australians will have access to free solar power, regardless of whether they have solar panels on their roof, under a new retail energy offer.
Federal Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the Solar Sharer offer would be introduced next year through the Default Market Offer and required retailers to offer free electricity to households for at least three hours in the middle of the day when solar generation was at its peak.
“Solar Sharer is a uniquely Australian electricity offer and reflects our world-leading rooftop solar status, with over 4 million installations across Australia,” Minister Bowen said.
He said Australia had more rooftop solar capacity than the entire fleet of remaining coal fired power stations across the country.
“This abundant power makes wholesale daytime prices very cheap, and even negative, and means the energy market often has more electricity in the middle of the day than we currently use.”
Minister Bowen said Solar Sharer addressed this by encouraging consumers to use more of that power when it was abundant.
He said customers who signed up to the new Solar Sharer offer through their energy retailer would need to have a smart meter and be able to move their energy use into windows where electricity was free to get the bill savings.
“If they choose to take up this offer they will be able to use appliances, run air conditioners or swimming pool cleaners and charge their electric vehicles and home batteries at home during the day for free.”
Minister Bowen said as well as cutting power bills for customers able to shift their electricity use, Solar Sharer would lower costs for the system as a whole by lowering peak demand in the evenings.
He said a lower evening peak had flow-on effects throughout the system, minimising expensive peak electricity prices and reducing the need for costly network upgrades and interventions to ensure grid stability.
