Solar Sharer in NSW: worth switching?
By Sithum Imarsha Last reviewed
With a 3-person home on Ausgrid and the time-of-use default offer, the Solar Sharer plan costs the same a year if nothing moves, and $50 less a year once the dishwasher runs from 11am to 2pm. Type your own bill and loads to see yours.
Your result
The free plan costs
$50 lessa year
$2,635 your plan − $2,584 Solar Sharer, Ausgrid
Switch: the Solar Sharer plan costs less for this home. You move 0.5 kWh a day into the free hours, out of hours that cost about 51.63c a kWh on this plan.
- If you change nothing
- the same a year. By design: the plan is priced to cost the same as the time-of-use default for a home that changes nothing.
- Break-even move
- None: it costs no more as it is
- Moved to the free hours
- 0.5 kWh a day
- Solar in the free hours
- — kWh a day of your use
- Without the battery
- — a year
- Without the EV
- — a year
- Over the daily cap
- — kWh a day at 27.56c/kWh
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Midday Power Saver. —
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How we calculated this
- A typical home has its use split over the clock the way the regulators measured it.
- The loads you move, solar, a battery and an EV change how much lands in the free hours.
- Both plans are priced for the same home for a year. The result is the gap between them.
Full method, tables and sources: Solar Sharer and Midday Power Saver calculator
Split your day into the plan's hours
17.4 kWh a day (AER benchmark, Sydney, 3 people): 12.8% in the free hours, 33.2% in the peak hours
Move the loads you chose
0.5 kWh a day from the peak hours
Solar, battery and EV
2.7 kWh a day in the free hours, 2.7 kWh from the grid; battery supplies — kWh a day on the free plan, — on yours
Price each plan
Yours: peak 60.2c, midday 24.04c, other 24.04c/kWh, 176.41c a day. Free: 176.41c a day; peak 63.72c, off-peak 27.56c; free 11am to 2pm up to 24 kWh a day, then 27.56c
The gap
$2,635 − $2,584: the free plan costs $50 less
Break-even
Change nothing: the same. 1 kWh moved is worth 27.56c, so break-even is 0 kWh a day
| Your plan | Free plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Supply charge | $644 | $644 |
| Peak hours | $927 | $995 |
| Other hours | $824 | $945 |
| Free hours | $239 | $0 |
| Solar feed-in credit (free hours) | $0 | $0 |
| Over the daily cap | $0 | |
| A year | $2,635 | $2,584 |
This version starts in Ausgrid and compares with Ausgrid's time-of-use default offer, the plan the AER priced the Solar Sharer against. Pick Endeavour or Essential if that is your network (it is on your bill).
New South Wales: what to know
Not yet checked
- The AER set the Solar Sharer so a home that changes nothing pays the same as on the time-of-use default offer. For Ausgrid it lists $1,893 a year on both, at 3,900 kWh.
- In Essential Energy areas on South Australian time, like Broken Hill, the free hours start at 11am local time, 30 minutes later than the rest of NSW.
Official source
- Ausgrid's peak rate (3pm to 9pm) applies only from November to March and June to August. In April, May, September and October every hour outside the free window is off-peak.
How the free hours are priced, and why a home that changes nothing pays about the same: read the guide on the main Solar Sharer calculator.
Questions
What time is the free power on each NSW network?
The free hours are 11am to 2pm on all 3 NSW networks: Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy and Essential Energy. The peak hours are not the same: Ausgrid 3pm to 9pm, Nov to Mar and Jun to Aug; Endeavour Energy 4pm to 8pm, working weekdays; Essential Energy 7am to 10am and 3pm to 10pm.
What are the Solar Sharer rates on Ausgrid outside the free hours?
The regulated rates are Peak 63.72c (3pm to 9pm, Nov to Mar and Jun to Aug), Off-peak 27.56c (all other times), plus 176.41c a day for supply. They are caps set by the AER, so a retailer can charge less. The Ausgrid time-of-use default offer it was priced against charges 60.2c in the peak, 24.04c at all other times and 176.41c a day. At the caps, both paid rates are higher on the Solar Sharer.
Is the Solar Sharer cheaper than the time-of-use default offer in NSW?
For a home using 17.4 kWh a day (AER benchmark, Sydney, 3 people), only once some use moves. If it changes nothing, it pays the same on the Solar Sharer as on its network's time-of-use default offer. With the dishwasher run from 11am to 2pm on both plans, the Solar Sharer costs less than that default offer: $50 less a year on Ausgrid, $26 less a year on Endeavour Energy and $50 less a year on Essential Energy.