Free electricity for Melbourne homes: the Midday Power Saver’s three free hours

How do Victoria’s three free hours work?

The Midday Power Saver is a regulated electricity plan: a standard retail contract with four time-of-use periods and a daily supply charge. Since 1 October 2026, every retailer with 1,000 or more household customers in Victoria must offer it. Power you use from 11 am to 2 pm local time costs nothing, every day including weekends, and the Essential Services Commission confirms the window doesn’t move for daylight saving or the seasons.

• Free up to 24 kWh a day. The cap counts everything your home draws from the grid in the window, a battery or an EV included. A controlled load, such as an off-peak hot water circuit, keeps its own tariff and doesn’t count. Use above the cap costs up to the 2 pm to 4 pm rate.
• You need a smart meter. The plan is for households only; small businesses can’t get it. The Premier’s office puts the number of eligible households at about 2.6 million. How to check for a smart meter.
• You opt in. Your retailer has to explain the offer and get your consent first, and you can change your mind within 10 business days (how to switch).
• The prices are maximums. The Victorian Government set them until 30 June 2027; retailers may charge less. From 1 July 2027 the Essential Services Commission sets them.

Other Victorian energy rebates

Is the Solar Sharer Offer available in Victoria?

No. The Solar Sharer Offer is the federal plan: the Australian Government requires retailers to offer it, and the Australian Energy Regulator sets its prices. Since 1 July 2026 it has applied, in the regulator’s words, in “a region where the Default Market Offer (DMO) applies (New South Wales, South Australia and South East Queensland)”. Victoria isn’t a Default Market Offer region: its standing offer is the Victorian Default Offer, set by the Essential Services Commission. So a Victorian retailer can’t sign you up to the Solar Sharer Offer; ask for the Midday Power Saver instead.

If you have read about the Solar Sharer in national news, the Victorian plan works on the same idea: free power in the middle of the day, up to 24 kWh a day (the same cap), for households with a smart meter that opt in. Sources: Australian Energy Regulator (Energy Made Easy) and Energy Consumers Australia.

What does the Midday Power Saver cost on your network?

In Melbourne, prices depend on which of the five networks owns the poles and wires in your street, your distribution zone; it is printed on your power bill. Outside the free hours, the maximum rates are 2.05c to 2.18c per kWh above the Victorian Default Offer’s time-of-use rates, in every zone and every period. The Essential Services Commission says the prices were “set to align with” that offer, so a retailer advertising the Midday Power Saver must show a nil per cent difference from the VDO. The maximum daily supply charge is the same as the VDO’s time-of-use supply charge in every zone.

A worked bill: one home in each zone

Our example home uses 11 kWh a day, close to the Essential Services Commission’s reference household of 4,000 kWh a year: 4.5 kWh off-peak (9 pm to 11 am), 1.5 kWh in the free hours, 1 kWh from 2 pm to 4 pm and 4 kWh in the 4 pm to 9 pm peak. Then it moves 2 kWh a day, say the dishwasher and a load of washing, from the peak into the free hours. It is an example, not a typical home, and it has no solar.

• Same habits: the Midday Power Saver costs $20 to $21 a year less than the Victorian Default Offer’s time-of-use rates, because 1.5 kWh a day already falls in the free hours. This home breaks even at about 1.2 kWh a day in the window.
• 2 kWh moved: $311 to $384 a year less than staying on the VDO’s time-of-use rates, and $298 to $441 less than its flat rate. The same move on the VDO’s time-of-use rates also saves, because 11 am to 2 pm is in its cheaper solar soak period, but the Midday Power Saver still comes out $156 to $166 a year ahead.
• The risk: a home that uses little power at midday pays the higher rates on everything else, about $20.50 to $21.80 more for every 1,000 kWh used outside the window. The Essential Services Commission warns that homes that can’t shift enough use, or routinely go over the cap, could be worse off than on other offers. Your own answer depends on when you use power: Victorian Energy Compare prices every plan on your real usage.

Free hours if you already have solar

Midday is when your panels make the most power, so a solar home already gets much of its midday electricity from the roof, and free grid power adds little on a sunny day. The Victorian Government puts it this way: households with rooftop solar “already benefit from generating their own electricity during the day”, though some may still benefit from the plan. Where it helps, and where it costs:

• Winter and cloudy days. A north-facing 6.6kW system in Mount Waverley, Melbourne makes about 14.4 kWh a day in June against 34.6 kWh in December (PVGIS). On short days the free hours cover what the panels can’t.
• Loads bigger than the panels’ output. A battery charging at full rate, an EV or heating can draw more than the roof supplies at that moment; the difference comes from the grid free, up to the cap.
• Evening and overnight power costs a little more. Solar homes buy most of their grid power after dark, and that is where the plan’s higher rates apply. Against the VDO’s time-of-use rates, you need about 1 kWh of grid use in the free hours for every 8 kWh you buy at other times.

The plan doesn’t set your feed-in tariff: your retailer does, and Victoria has had no minimum since 1 July 2025 (it can’t go below zero). Solar Victoria says most homes with solar panels only use around 25% of what they generate, so most of their output is exported and the feed-in rate on the offer still matters. Check it before you switch.

Feed-in tariffs and the Midday Power Saver

West roofs and the free hours

Charging a battery in the free hours

The pricing order has no separate rule for batteries: charging from the grid in the window counts like any other use. That makes the free hours a way to fill a home battery for the 4 pm to 9 pm peak, when the Midday Power Saver charges up to 39.75c to 49.82c per kWh. Each kWh a day moved that way avoids up to $145 to $182 a year at those maximum peak rates, less what the battery loses in charging and discharging.

How big a battery fills in 3 hours?

What limits you is the charge rate as much as the size. To fill from empty inside the window, a battery has to charge at its usable capacity divided by 3, and the 24 kWh cap is shared with everything else your home uses at midday:

A battery charges no faster than its own rating and its inverter allow, so check the charge power on the datasheet as well as the capacity: our battery comparison lists each maker’s power figures. A battery and an EV charger running in the window are high loads too: spread them out.

With solar, and in winter

A 6.6kW system makes about 34.6 kWh a day in December, enough to fill a battery on sunny days, but about 14.4 kWh in June, and the home uses much of that itself. So the free hours earn their keep in the cooler months. The Victorian Government says households with a battery or an EV can charge “when solar generation is lower” and use that stored energy later, when prices are higher. Our battery size calculator shows how far your solar refills a battery month by month; the free hours can top up the rest. If you join a virtual power plant, ask how its charging schedule fits the free hours.

Batteries we fit, and what they cost

Are batteries worth it in Melbourne?

Moving appliances into the free hours safely

The Victorian Government suggests running energy-hungry appliances between 11 am to 2 pm, such as washing machines, clothes dryers, hot water heat pumps, air conditioners and electric heating, and using appliance timers so the window works for you even when you’re out. A few rules keep that safe:

• Spread the big loads. The Essential Services Commission says spreading high-energy appliances across the 3 hours, batteries and EV chargers included, can reduce the chance of safety switches or circuit breakers tripping, or fuses blowing.
• Older wiring or switchboard? The Commission suggests talking to a licensed electrician before running several high-energy appliances at the same time. If a safety switch keeps tripping, call an electrician; don’t open the switchboard yourself.
• Laundry only when someone is home. The Country Fire Authority (CFA) suggests you never go out, and never go to bed, while the washing machine or dryer is running. Let the dryer finish its cool-down cycle and clean the lint filter after each load. Time the laundry for days someone is home.
• Keep an eye on the cap. A battery, an EV and the appliances share the same 24 kWh. Anything above it costs up to the 2 pm to 4 pm rate.

How to switch and leave, and what changes in July 2027

1. Check your bill. It shows your distribution zone and your current plan. If you aren’t sure you have a smart meter, see smart meters in Victoria.
2. See when you use power. Smart meters record use every 5 or 30 minutes, depending on the meter’s age (AusNet), and your distributor gives you that data. Upload it to Victorian Energy Compare to price every plan on your own usage (Essential Services Commission).
3. Ask your retailer for the Midday Power Saver. Before you agree, it must tell you the free hours and the daily free-use cap; the rate for anything you use above the cap; the peak and off-peak rates, the daily supply charge and any other charges; that you may pay more if you can’t move enough of your use into the free hours; that the Victorian Default Offer is available to you; where to compare plans, such as Victorian Energy Compare; and, where practicable, its estimate of the dollar impact on you (Essential Services Commission).
4. Change your mind within 10 business days. The cooling-off period runs from the day you get that information. Tell the retailer in writing or verbally: there is no fee, and the Commission says the retailer must not charge you for any electricity used in that time.
5. Leave later if it stops suiting you. It is a standard retail contract, and the Victorian Government says you can leave the offer without exit fees. Victorian retail licences bar exit fees for households except on fixed-term, fixed-price contracts (Essential Services Commission).

From 1 July 2027

The Essential Services Commission starts setting the Midday Power Saver’s free hours and maximum prices for each zone, every year and at least 30 days before they apply, and can change the 24 kWh free-use cap. Until then the free hours are 11 am to 2 pm. The Commission says it will set those prices “on the basis of efficient costs” for retailers. We’ll update this page when it publishes them.

All Victorian energy rebates

Free electricity in Victoria: your questions