Victorian Labor has rather quietly launched its own version of the federal government’s Solar Sharer offer, giving all households in the state access to retail deals offering three hours of free power in the middle of every day.
As of Thursday October 01, retailers in the state must offer a default version of Victoria’s Midday Power Saver offer – an offer that, like Solar Sharer, aims to extend rooftop solar savings to those who cannot install their own systems, while also soaking up excess PV generation in the middle of the day.
Victoria’s Midday Power Saver runs between 11am and 2pm, daily, and according to the state Labor government offers those who opt in the potential to save between $149 and $428 a year by shifting electricity use into the free window.
Households with an electric vehicle could save up to $1,102 a year by charging during the three-hour period, the Carroll government said in a statement this week.
According to the Essential Services Commission (ESC), Victoria’s pricing regulator, the Victorian government is setting the prices retailers can charge customers in the first year of the offer, while the ESC will set the prices from July 2027.
Like Solar Sharer, Midday Power Saver requires Victorian customers to opt in, as long as they have a smart meter and are with an electricity retailer that has 1,000 customers or more.
And like Solar Sharer, the Victorian free power offer won’t suit everyone – and in fact could leave some customers worse off if they aren’t able to shift at least 5-30 per cent of their daytime energy usage into the 11am-2pm window.
An information page published by state-owned utility SEC warns that electricity prices outside of the set three hours “may be higher than prices on other energy plans.”
There are also “fair use caps” in place, which in this case mean a household can use no more than 24 kW a day of the time-alotted free power. The SEC says customers should ask their electricity retailer to explain their caps and what happens if you exceed them.
Retailers are also required to let customers know if they have any plans – including their own takes on the Midday Power Saver – they reasonably believe may be more suitable, or deliver better savings – based on a household’s history of energy usage.
A Swinburne energy expert on has also warned that the success of the Midday Power Saver scheme will depend on avoiding the unintended consequence of creating a new electricity peak in the middle of the day.
Professor Mehdi Seyedmahmoudian said on Thursday that while the free power offer is a positive step towards aligning electricity demand with periods of abundant solar generation, rapidly changing patterns and sources of demand must be managed carefully.
In particular, Seyedmahmoudian says that as electric vehicle (EV) uptake and household electrification continue to grow, managing demand will become as important as shifting it.
“If a strong price signal encourages large numbers of EVs and other high-power loads to switch on within the same three-hour window, the resulting synchronised demand could place significant pressure on local distribution networks, feeders and transformers,” he says.
“Smart charging, automation and staggered or more dynamic demand signals will become increasingly important.
“The success of schemes like this should therefore be measured not only by how much demand is shifted, but by how intelligently that demand is managed across the network.”
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Sophie Vorrath
Sophie is editor of Renew Economy and editor of its sister site, One Step Off The Grid . She is the co-host of the Solar Insiders Podcast. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
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