Why anyone would give away free electricity

There's too much power in the middle of the day

Australia has more solar panels per person than anywhere else in the world. Millions of roofs, all producing the most electricity at the same time — the middle of a sunny day.

At those hours there is often more power going into the system than households and businesses are drawing out of it. Wholesale prices at midday fall to almost nothing, and sometimes below zero.

That's a problem, not a windfall

An electricity system has to match supply and demand minute by minute. Too much power in the middle of the day is as awkward as too little in the evening, and it costs money to manage.

The cheapest fix is to get people to use more electricity when there's too much of it. Not out of generosity — because it's less expensive than the alternatives.

Which is where you come in

A household that runs its dishwasher, its hot water or its car charger at midday is solving that problem. The free window is what you're paid for doing it.

That's the whole mechanism. There's no catch, no fine print that takes the money back, and nothing you have to install.

So why isn't it a better deal than it is?

Because the saving only works if you can actually move your usage. A household that's out all day with a gas hot water system has very little it can shift, and for them the offer does close to nothing.

We think that's worth saying plainly rather than selling around. The offer is genuinely good for some households and genuinely not worth it for others.