Free power 11am–2pm. Store it. Use it at night.
Since 1 July 2026, the federal Solar Sharer Offer has given South East Queensland households at least three free hours of grid electricity every day — no solar panels required. A home battery charges itself during the free window and runs your evening on stored power.
Solar Sharer Offer details are current as at July 2026. Eligibility criteria and the exact free window are set by your retailer and can change.
How the Solar Sharer Offer works
Until now, free midday electricity mostly benefited people with solar panels. The Solar Sharer Offer changes that: there’s so much solar feeding the grid in the middle of the day that the government is requiring major retailers to give some of it away. Renters, apartment dwellers and homes with shaded roofs can finally get in on it.
You opt in with your retailer
Major retailers in SE QLD now offer plans with at least 3 free daytime hours — 11am–2pm. You need a smart meter (most SEQ homes already have one, and retailers arrange upgrades).
Your battery charges for free
We set the battery to charge from the grid only during the free window. A 10 kWh battery fills in well under 3 hours. The electricity it draws costs you nothing on an eligible plan.
Your evening runs on stored power
From late afternoon, your home draws from the battery instead of the grid — exactly when grid rates are at their most expensive. That’s the saving, every single day.
Will this work for my place?
This package is built for households that can’t do rooftop solar — which is most of the people the old schemes left out.
- Yes — homeowners without solar: shaded roofs, asbestos roofs, heritage restrictions, or you just never got around to it. The battery doesn’t care what’s on your roof.
- Yes — renters, with the owner’s written consent. The battery is wired into the switchboard, so it’s a fixture — worth agreeing up front who owns it if you move. We can talk it through with your owner or property manager.
- Yes — apartments and townhouses with their own meter and a suitable mounting spot (garage wall is the usual one). Body corporate approval is normally required; we’ve handled that paperwork before.
- One thing to note — you’ll need a smart meter and an eligible retailer plan once the offer launches. Eligibility criteria are set per retailer; we’ll point you at the right plans as part of the quote, but the retailer switch is yours to make.
- Probably not — if your total electricity use is very low (under roughly 3,000 kWh a year), the battery’s payback gets long. We’ll tell you straight if the numbers don’t stack up for you.
Don't have a smart meter? You'll need one for the Solar Sharer Offer — and we install them. Mention it in the form and we'll fold it into your quote.
How we size the battery
The free window is short — about three hours — so the battery has to do two things well: charge fast enough to fill up inside the window, and hold enough to carry your home through the evening. Sizing is a balance between the two.
a) How fast can it charge? Every battery has a maximum charging speed. A 10 kWh battery charging at 5 kW fills from empty in about two hours — comfortably inside the window. We only recommend batteries that can fully charge within three hours.
b) How much do you use in the evening? This is the number that matters most. Whatever you use between roughly 4pm and bedtime is what the battery needs to hold. For most SEQ homes that’s 6–12 kWh.
c) What’s the payback? Bigger isn’t automatically better. A battery you only half-use is money sitting on the wall. We size to your actual evening usage, not the biggest box we can sell you.
If your home has rooftop solar — or you're adding it — the federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program applies. For installations with certificates created from 1 May 2026, the rebate factor is 6.8 — roughly $250 per usable kWh at recent certificate prices, in full up to 14 kWh of usable capacity and tiered down above that. On a 10 kWh battery that's in the order of $2,500 off, shown as a line item on your quote.
If solar isn't an option for you — renters, apartments, unsuitable roofs — the rebate doesn't apply: the program requires the battery to be attached to rooftop solar. Your savings case is the free-window arbitrage on its own, and that's exactly the case this page and our calculator are built on. No rebate is assumed anywhere in our no-solar numbers.
As at July 2026. Rebate eligibility, values and scheme rules can change; the figure on your quote is the one that counts.
Indicative package pricing
Indicative starting prices as at July 2026, installed. The lower price applies where the battery is attached to rooftop solar and the federal rebate applies; without solar, budget on the no-solar price. Every system is quoted individually: submit the form for a firm price. Savings estimates assume an eligible free-hours plan and are subject to your specific plan, usage and tariff.
Couples and small households. Covers lights, fridge, TV and cooking through the evening.
Typical family home. Covers most evening usage including air conditioning in moderation.
Large homes, pools, EVs. Shifts the full daily free allowance into stored power.
We install BYD, GoodWe and SigEnergy battery systems. All packages include the battery, hybrid inverter or integrated unit, switchboard work, charging schedule setup for the free window, and grid connection paperwork.
Start smaller: a hot water timer
Not ready for a battery? Your hot water tank is already a battery — it just stores heat instead of electricity. A timer in the box with your circuit breakers shifts the tank's heating into the free window, so the day's hot water gets made while the power costs nothing and used whenever you like.
It's the cheapest way into the Solar Sharer Offer: typically $300–$600 installed (as at July 2026, depending on your switchboard), no roof, no battery, and it works in the same homes this page is for.
One thing to note — this works when your tank is on your main tariff. If your hot water currently runs on a controlled load tariff (an older type of plan that heats it overnight on a separate, cheaper circuit), that circuit sits outside the free window, so a timer on its own won't heat your water for free — the tank has to be moved onto the main tariff first. Whether that beats your current setup needs a proper comparison, and we check it as part of your quote before recommending anything.
You can model it in the calculator below — the hot water timer is a toggle, on its own or bundled with a battery.
- — you have an electric storage tank
- — a battery doesn't stack up for you yet
- — you want something installed in half a day
What size battery suits your usage?
Punch in what you know from your last bill and we’ll estimate the battery size, annual saving and payback. Two minutes, no details required.
It's on your bill, usually as "average daily usage".
We'll estimate your daily usage from this.
Most households land around 50–60%. The cooking, dishwasher and aircon are all evening — but the fridge, standby and pool pump run right through the day, so it rarely goes much higher.
On your bill as the "usage" or "general usage" rate. SEQ flat-rate plans run about 25–30 c/kWh as at July 2026. If you're on a time-of-use plan, the rate that matters here is your evening peak one (usually 37–48 c/kWh) — that's the power a battery replaces.
Our assumptions (the fine print)
- Free window of 3 hours daily (11am–2pm) under an eligible Solar Sharer Offer plan — live since 1 July 2026. The window, eligibility and the daily free-energy cap (currently 24 kWh) are set by your retailer.
- The battery charges fully inside the free window (all sizes shown can) and displaces evening grid usage at your entered rate.
- 90% round-trip efficiency; capacities shown are usable kWh (GoodWe ESA modules are rated in usable capacity).
- Prices include a partial-home backup circuit (essentials stay on in a blackout); full-home backup is quoted per site.
- If you entered a bill, daily usage is estimated assuming a supply charge of around $1.10/day at your entered rate.
- Payback uses indicative installed prices as at July 2026: 8 kWh around $10,650, 16 kWh around $14,750, 24 kWh around $18,900 before any rebate. Every system is quoted individually.
- With the solar toggle on, the federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program rebate is deducted (around $2,100 / $4,000 / $5,300 by size, at the rate applying to installations from 1 May 2026 — your install date sets the actual rate, confirmed on quote). The rebate only applies where the battery is attached to rooftop solar; toggle it off if solar isn't an option and no rebate is included.
- Free-hours plans can carry higher rates outside the free window; the net effect depends on your plan. Savings shown as a range to reflect this.
- Hot water timer (when toggled on): daily water heating estimated at about 2.1 kWh per 100 litres of tank (typical household draw plus standing losses), capped by what your element can deliver in the 3-hour window and at 45% of your total usage. That load is shifted free and taken out of the evening usage the battery covers — no double counting. Payback includes a $450 timer install (typically $300–$600).
- The hot water figure assumes your tank is on your main tariff. If it currently runs on a controlled load tariff (an older plan with a separate, cheaper circuit), that circuit is billed on its own and is not part of the free window — so a timer by itself saves nothing until the tank is moved onto the main tariff. Whether that move pays depends on your usage; we run the comparison as part of your quote.
All figures are indicative estimates only, as at July 2026, and subject to your specific plan, usage pattern and site. Final sizing and pricing are confirmed by quote after a site assessment.
Frequently asked questions
Yes — that’s the point of the federal Solar Sharer Offer, live in South East Queensland since 1 July 2026. Participating retailers must offer plans with at least three free hours of grid electricity in the middle of the day (11am–2pm in SEQ). You don’t need solar panels to opt in — you need a smart meter and an eligible retailer plan. A battery lets you store that free power and use it in the evening.
It depends on how much electricity you use between the late afternoon and bedtime. Most SEQ households use 6–12 kWh in that window, which puts a 10–13.5 kWh battery in the sweet spot. Smaller households can do well with 5 kWh. Our calculator above gives you a starting point, and we confirm the sizing against your actual bills before you commit.
Possibly. The battery is wired into the property’s switchboard, so you’ll need the owner’s written consent, and it’s worth discussing who owns the hardware if you move out. Some owners are happy to co-fund it because it adds value to the property. We’re happy to talk to your property manager or owner as part of the quote process.
Often yes, with some extra steps. If you have your own meter and somewhere suitable to mount the battery (garage wall, storage cage area that meets clearance rules), it can work. Body corporate approval is usually required. We’ll tell you up front if your situation doesn’t suit it.
As at July 2026, indicative installed prices with no solar attached run from around $10,650 for an 8 kWh battery up to around $18,900 for 24 kWh — including a partial-home backup circuit, with the exact figure depending on your switchboard and the install, so every system is quoted individually. The federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program rebate only applies where the battery is attached to rooftop solar; where it does, prices start around $8,550 (8 kWh) to $13,600 (24 kWh), with the rebate shown as a line item on your quote. If solar isn’t an option for you, budget on the no-solar price.
No — the Solar Sharer Offer requires at least three free daytime hours, and the exact window is set by each retailer’s plan. In SEQ the window is currently around 11am–2pm, but you should confirm the window and eligibility criteria with your retailer. Modern batteries let you adjust the charging schedule in the app if the window changes.
Want the deeper dive? Read our guide: Can I get free electricity without solar panels in Queensland?
Get your battery package quote
Tell us a little about your place and we’ll come back with a sized package, the rebate worked in, and a straight answer on payback. No hard sell.