Is Solar Sharer worth it?

That's the honest answer, and it's shorter than most of what you'll read about this offer. The rest of this page is how to work out which group you're in.

It's worth the most if you have an electric car

Charging a car is the single biggest block of electricity use a household can move. If you can plug in during the free window instead of overnight, the offer is worth more to you than to almost anyone else.

A pool pump is the next best thing, for the same reason: it's a big, predictable load that doesn't care what time of day it runs.

It's worth something if you can shift your hot water

Hot water is often the largest single thing on an electricity bill. If you have an electric hot water system and you can set it to heat during the free window, the offer can pay off.

There's a catch here that catches a lot of people, and it's the reason we ask you to check rather than just switch.

It's usually not worth it if your hot water is gas

If you heat water with gas, you lose the biggest load you could have shifted. A typical Sydney household in that position is about $198 a year worse off on the standard offer.

The same goes for a household that uses most of its electricity between 5pm and 9pm and can't change that. If nothing moves into the free window, there's nothing for the free window to save you.

Not all offers are equal, and this is the part that costs people money

Every retailer has to offer a Solar Sharer plan, but the plans aren't the same. A longer free window can still leave you worse off once the daily supply charge and the rates for the rest of the day are counted.

Compare the total bill, not the length of the free window. It's the single most useful thing you can do here, and it's the thing most comparisons skip.

So should you switch?

Check first. Our check asks about six questions and tells you whether you're likely to be better off, roughly the same, or worse off — and it will tell you not to switch when that's the right answer.

We don't sell electricity plans and we don't get paid when you switch. That's why we can afford to tell you no.