It could have been a very smart, exciting and world-first energy policy initiative. But now we can see the results, it’s clear that Solar Sharer has gone terribly, terribly wrong.
As is too often the case in energy policy, the customer ends up the loser. And this has all occurred with the approval of the Australian Energy Regulator, the government’s market regulator.
Thanks to the amount of home rooftop solar installed in Australia, there is frequently a glut of electricity on the national electricity market in the middle of the day, so electricity prices on the wholesale market are cheap, sometimes zero or even negative.
When federal energy minister Chris Bowen announced last November that all electricity companies in NSW, South Australia and South-East Queensland would – from July 1 – be forced by law to offer three free hours of electricity between 11am and 2pm through his Solar Sharer scheme, it seemed a top idea.
It would encourage people to use power between these hours, soaking up that solar power and so cutting demand later in the day when prices are higher. This would also enable households without solar, especially tenants and apartment dwellers, to share in the benefits of the energy transition to renewables.
