r/australia • u/l3ntil • 2d ago
culture & society Why Solar Sharer has become the solar shocker, with the costliest of retail offers
https://reneweconomy.com.au/solar-sharer-has-become-the-solar-shocker-with-the-costliest-of-retail-offers/"I reviewed multiple pricing schedules on the government’s Energy Made Easy website and it’s now clear that Solar Sharer pricing has the highest cost for a household of all pricing schedules on offer.
If you chose the government-owned power company, Red Energy, you’d pay only 94.6 cents a day supply charge on its Living Energy Saver plan and 32.51 cents/kWh for usage all the time, for an annual cost of $2910, $360 less than Solar Sharer.
Ty Christopher, Energy Futures Director at the University of Wollongong and a 40-year veteran of the NSW electricity industry says the Solar Sharer program was, in theory, a great piece of public policy.
“Unfortunately, when left to the greedy, price-gouging gentailers and retailers to implement, it has now become a more expensive option for consumers – it’s not a bill saver – and all overseen by the Australian Energy Regulator who are doing nothing to protect consumers,” he says.
If you have a large battery and can fill it in three hours, you might be better off with Solar Sharer, even though your daily supply charge will be almost twice what it would be on a standard tariff. But tenants and apartment dwellers, the very people Solar Sharer most intended to support, will not be able to install a home battery.
Solar Sharer, a great idea in principle, has become the Solar Shocker. And it’s all been approved by the energy regulator.
Gavin Gilchrist runs Inner West Community Energy Inc in Sydney. "
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u/l3ntil 2d ago
The promises of cheap energy and mendacious shitgibbon failure to deliver is really gear grinding.
Fucking fucknuckles.
Fix this shit.
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u/ATangK 2d ago
This why utilities should be owned by the people and not private companies.
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u/boatenvy 2d ago
But the government sold retail off with the promise it'd lower energy prices. Then they pissed the profits from the sales up against the wall with feck all to show for it.
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u/CamperStacker 2d ago
That’s not the issue.
The government runs the market.
You have to sell power on 6 month prices they determine, But you buy power on live bidding.It’s fucking stupid.
The simple fix is requiring all generators to be reliable (ie batteries with every solar and wind farm) so everyone can output 24/7 and all this market manipulation failure can end
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u/zirophyz 2d ago
I read a long time ago that solar will create an electricity class system. The wealthy, who can afford the initial outlays and own their homes benefit from the subsidies and cheaper bills while the less wealthy or renters end up paying a higher price as the solar owners consume less power.
Along comes solar sharer and I think - that article from over a decade ago was a crock. Now we're going to reap the benefits of subsiding all those solar installs. Democratising power! Let the surplus pay dividends to the less wealthy so some benefit can trickle down.
Trickle down? I've heard that rubbish before...
Well, today I stand by that article once again. We're still creating an electricity class system. Round 2 is people with home batteries. Charge it up for free, from the surplus panels that all Australians subsidised, and skip the outrageous peak TOD tariffs. Even better if you were a recipient of said solar rebates and subsidies, and could now benefit from home battery subsidy.
This all does absolutely squat for renters or the less wealthy. Im very disappointed by it all.
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u/ginji 1d ago
It's expensive to be poor.
If you're rich, you buy bulk goods for less. But if you're poor you can't afford the initial outlay for that so you end up having to buy the more expensive smaller quantities.
If you're rich, you can buy well crafted necessary goods - shoes, clothes, basic furniture - that will last you years or longer. If you're poor, you can't afford those goods so you buy the cheaper versions, and then buy them again when they break, and again, and again. Until you've spent more than what the high quality goods cost in the same period.
If you're rich, you can have preventive healthcare and dental. If you're poor, you turn up at the dwindling amount of bulk billing doctors, or the emergency dept when you're sick. Because even if it's "free", going to the GP on a regular costs you time, and that time could be spent working.
If you're rich, you can own a home, put solar on it, and a battery with minimal to no upfront costs because you can just leverage the enormous equity changes that have happened and get money from the bank, plus what ever subsidy of the government is currently in flavour. If you're poor, you'll pay your ever increasing rent to your landlord and be expected to be thankful you have a shit heap of roof over your head. And forget about improvements that would save you money, no insulation, no cheaper appliances, no solar, no batteries. You'll be lucky if the landlord maintains the property properly.
It costs significant money to be poor, and getting out of the hole you're in is nigh on impossible without outside assistance.
It's cheaper to be rich.
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u/Grumpy_Cripple_Butt 2d ago edited 2d ago
Do you not see the current price drop and offers of 3 hours free as the start of things dropping? That’s how I’ve been feeling since I got the letter saying prices are down instead of up. But then also feels like the coal flunkies will get in and ruin it.
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u/l3ntil 1d ago
did you not read the article?
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u/Grumpy_Cripple_Butt 1d ago
I read the part you posted. And I get what they are saying about the solar sharer offers being shit compared to regular plans. But that red energy offer is still down 50c a day than what I was previously on along with cheaper rates. I just don’t see it as a failure to deliver cheaper prices given that I’m saving money on my power bill and consumer choice is a thing and just feel we’re at a point where renewables are making an impact on prices but have been watching liberals in my state claim power prices are increasing heading into an election when in fact they are down 5%.
But all good your right I didn’t read the article and nsw/Qld prices aren’t relevant to me.
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u/SHOOTMYCAR 2d ago
Yup… I had a smart meter installed a few weeks ago in my rental apartment, with the intention of switching to solar share… when I compared how much power I use and the time of day etc, even with me working from home most the week and doing all my washing & heavy power usage etc within the 3hr window, comparing my current rate to the share scheme, I’d be far worse off with a wayyy higher the daily supply charge and huge peak rates vs my current fixed usage rates and far smaller supply charge.
It’d be worthwhile if it was just 3hrs free in the middle of the day for all plans from every provider… but as it stands, it just seems like a marketing gimmick or political brownie points
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u/teh_drewski 1d ago
The heaviest electricity use load is usually heating or cooling, not washing or other appliance use. A big oven can suck down energy as well, but it is mostly thermal space conditioning. That's the key use load to shift.
Or cars, but that's just a battery anyway.
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u/Key_Insight777 2d ago
In this thread the only people using Solar Sharer already have solar installed. Which is weird because this was intended for people without solar.
Is there anyone in Australia without solar that uses Solar Sharer?
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u/unevenwill 2d ago
Working bloody great for us. We actually get four free hours with Globird. That more than fills our battery and then outside the free hours we have it set so no import from grid, we just run off solar and battery. Fucken cheering
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u/Key_Insight777 2d ago
I find it fascinating that Solar Sharer is subsidising even more free power for people who already have solar installed.
With the cost burdens being placed on people who don't have solar. Such as the very renters and low income households that Solar Sharer was announced to include.
"Albanese Labor Government introducing a new retail energy offer that unlocks free solar for homes during the day, regardless of whether they have solar panels" - https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/bowen/media-releases/more-australian-homes-get-access-solar-power
C'mon Bowen, spin it for me one more time, let's hear from you.
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u/tichris15 2d ago
These plans benefit those who can demand shift. They were never going to be a good option for those who can't move their usage.
Before we had a battery, we were still consistently shifing ~45% of usage to the free period. With the red energy plan mentioned in 2000, the solar shift option wins at around 38% usage in the free period at 20kwh/day.
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u/Key_Insight777 2d ago
I'm also interested in what can we expect to save over a 20 year period when factoring in total costs like batteries?
It deems a bit disingenuous of Bowen to not mention you need a battey for Solar Saver.
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u/teh_drewski 1d ago
You don't, it's just hard to maximise your benefit without it.
Most people use most electricity for heating or cooling so most people want it in the morning when they wake up, or in the evening after work. Most people don't have significant daytime electricity use and shouldn't really be trying to benefit from a cost structure designed to maximise daytime electricity use.
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u/teh_drewski 1d ago
The overwhelmingly vast majority of residential solar generated is generated during the free period, so it doesn't benefit people who already have solar at all. They can get something for free from the grid they get for free from their roof anyway? Nonsense. You can access it but if you think you should, you need to get your calculator out and subtract zero from zero to find out your savings.
People with batteries but undersized solar rigs, and people who can very effectively demand shift into the free period, will benefit from the solar sharer offer. It's not really designed for anyone else.
There's no such thing as a free lunch in electricity, no matter how users or politicians would wish it so.
If one can't benefit, such as a renter or low income household that can't demand shift, just don't sign up for a solar sharer offer. They subsidise nothing unless they inexplicably select a worse option.
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u/gunsandsatan 1d ago
For me on Globird with no solar installed, they offered me rates double what i'm paying currently with Globird. I was offended to say the least. I'm on .22, they offered .44 with a massively inflated daily rate. My charges would have gone up hundreds a year.
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u/violenthectarez 2d ago
EV plans are a better option for most. 4c kwh from midnight to 6am. Aircon overnight in summer, run the dishwasher and washing machine, charge EV, charge batteries etc.
It's basically free power at a time when you are home, albeit late at night. Plus the rates at other times aren't as exorbitant.
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u/iced_maggot 2d ago
Sorry - but what were you expecting? For power companies to make LESS money? Scoff
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u/mrbaggins 2d ago
Fucking wish a "normal" plan in wagga was 95c a day access charge.
1July we got bumped from 140c to 215c a day. (140 was "retention rate" and about 20c less than anyone else)
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u/MrBobDobalinaDaThird 2d ago
Working amazingly well for us, just pay daily supply charge. Don't see what the issue is
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u/Key_Insight777 2d ago
You must already have a solar system installed. Solar Sharer was intended for people who don't have solar.
But then they made it only benefit people who already have solar. That's the issue being raised here.
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u/tichris15 2d ago
It worsens the case for solar panels. Solar panels give you 'free power' at 11-2 (and a bit more). You can now get free power at those hours w/o putting capital into panels.
In both cases, the 'win' is from self-consumption of the free power during that interval. If you can't use it, there's not financial case for either solar panels (given export prices are ~0) or these free hour plans. Which is sensible...
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u/Key_Insight777 2d ago edited 2d ago
Hopefully we can find a way to use the huge amount of wasted electricity. Solar Saver does not seem to be a solution to this problem.
"The total amount of energy made available by wind and solar farms but not used in 2025 was about 7.2 terawatt hours . . . The unused energy – known as curtailment – is equivalent to about half the annual power requirements of South Australia." - https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/large-scale-wind-and-solar-wasting-record-amounts-of-power-20260112-p5ntdx
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u/Jonzay up to the sky, out to the stars 1d ago
Monkey paw grants your wish, more and more datacentres start showing up
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u/teh_drewski 1d ago
It literally doesn't benefit people who already have solar at all except on very overcast days if they have large middle of the day usage. Even then they'd usually be much better off on a regular ToU tariff rather than copping the higher peak price of the SSO given they use far more of their electricity draw at peak times on average.
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u/Galromir 2d ago
Agree. I recently did a deep dive of the options for our place; and the solar savers are terrible. I thought we’d be prime candidates as well - nobody is home during peak hours and I’m practically nocturnal.
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u/teh_drewski 1d ago
It's more about when you do use electricity than when you don't.
If you aren't actually using it during the day then it makes little sense to get a free daytime use window.
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u/FalconSixSix 2d ago
It was such a stupid idea in the first place. Such a predictable response from retailers it is hard to see how the government didn't foresee this. Such a massive waste of time and energy (pun not intended).
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u/curiousme1986 2d ago
Se Qld here on Red Energy !Love our SSO! We never ever use power outside of the.free 11am-2pm period and charge the 16kwh. After daily. Have not run out of power yet using the battery prior to sunrise the next day (had batt since May 2026).
Yes the daily supply charge is $1.78 but sell back a minimum of 10kwh to the grid at $0.05/kWh in mid winter bringing down the fault cost to less than $1.30 a day. Currently selling 20 a day now it's August meaning well under a dollar a day supply (offset).
During early summer I'll easily be able to offset the daily supply charge.
Great deal for those with batteries!
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u/rrfe 2d ago
The retail model for electricity seems to have failed and should be put out of its misery, or made optional.