Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has proposed a raft of new energy pricing reforms, the most significant of which is the Solar Sharer Offer (SSO).
Solar Sharer is one of a number of “significant reforms” to the Default Mark Offer (DMO), which caps the price energy retailers can charge a small proportion of household and small businesses in New South Wales, south-east Queensland and South Australia.
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Solar Sharer will require electricity retailers to offer a defined daily window of three hours where households will receive free power, to incentivise households to shift their energy use to periods of low-cost solar generation during the day.
Solar Sharer aims to enhance energy affordability, empower consumers, improve grid utilisation, and ensure the benefits of Australia’s clean energy transition are shared more equitably.
As part of the reform process, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) is inviting the public, industry, and other stakeholders to have their say on potential changes, including tariff design, consumer impacts, interactions with other reforms, consumer protections, and opportunities and risks associated with implementation.
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The feedback will inform final policy design and regulatory amendments to the SSO to ensure it delivers transparent and system-wide benefits.
Submissions close 21 November 2025.
