Chris Bowen has announced the government will reform the energy default market offer from next year, to force energy companies to offer at least three hours of free solar energy to households, when solar power is at its peak (which is the middle of the day)

It won’t matter if you have solar panels or not – it’s about using the solar power those with panels provide to the grid and sharing it around to more households.

The government is calling it solar sharer and says it is about using Australia’s unique global position as a renewable energy super power and sharing the abundance of solar power now in the grid.

You will have to have a smart meter in order to be eligible though, which means renters, particularly those in low income rentals, will most likely miss out. And to actually save money, people will have to move their energy use to the middle of the day when the deal is in place. That works for people who are at home in the middle of the day, or have modern appliances which can be programmed ahead of time, but not for anyone else.

Still, it’s a tiny start.

The offer, which will be provided through energy retailers, will initially be available to all households in DMO-regulated states – NSW, South-East Queensland, and South Australia – from July next year. We will consult with other states to potentially extend the offer to other jurisdictions by 2027. The Australian Energy Regulator will regulate the Solar Sharer Offer to ensure customers also get a fair deal outside of the free power period.

But the Australian Energy Council’s Chief Executive Officer, Louisa Kinnear said the industry was not consulted before it was announced and that has made energy retailers sad:

Today’s announcement of a new regulated Solar Sharer Offer was a surprise to the industry and did not form part of the DMO Review consultation process. This lack of consultation risks damaging industry confidence, as well as creating the potential for unintended consequences. 

Electricity retailers have been actively participating in good faith with the Government’s DMO Review and had been seeking to support the Government’s intent to align the DMO to an efficient price framework. 

We have just spent the past 5 months engaging constructively with the Government on the DMO review, with the industry broadly comfortable with the anticipated review outcomes, but the lack of consultation on today’s announcement means the AEC can no longer offer its unqualified support.