COTA SA's Climate Change Group is passionate about the actions that individuals can take, big or small, that helps to care for the planet. One of these actions is sharing stories and finding reliable sources of information that are balanced and easy to understand. Our Climate Change Group members will share stories and information that they find useful with the hope that you will find it useful too! Today, cost of living continues to be a significant issue of concern right now - including the cost of electricity but there's a new initiative which could help with that.
The Federal Government has introduced a new initiative, the Solar Sharer Offer (SSO), which could help make a difference - starting on 1 July the SSO means that eligible households will be able to access 3 hours of free electricity in the middle of the day (12-3pm in South Australia).
Eligibility
The Solar Sharer Offer will be available to households that:
- live in in Default Market Offer (DMO) areas - New South Wales, South Australia or South East Queensland
- have a household smart meter installed
- are renters or homeowners
- are not supplied through an embedded network
- are with a retailer that is required to offer the Solar Sharer Offer (Energy retailers with more than 1,000 customers in DMO areas)
You do not need to have solar panels to access this offer.
The benefits behind the SSO are two-fold: firstly, some consumers will benefit by making savings if they can move some of their usage of electricity into the free power period, particularly high demand appliances; and secondly, the electricity grid will benefit by shifting some of the demand from the current peak hours (5pm to 9pm generally) to daytime hours when solar electricity is being generated.
The offer is optional, you will need to opt in with your energy retailer. Households will be able to access up to 24 kWh of free electricity during the 3-hour window each day.
If you don’t already have a smart meter, and would like to swap over your existing meter, contact your energy retailer: they will let you know if there's a cost, some will do the swap free of charge.
This offer has the potential to reduce electricity costs for some of COTA SA’s members regardless of whether they have batteries and/or solar installations – particularly if your heavy uses of electricity can be moved to the Free Power Period.
Next steps
- Read all about the Solar Sharer Offer on the energy.gov.au website
- Talk to your energy provider
If you have questions, or want to chat about this topic or other issues around Climate Change, contact the COTA SA Climate Change Group via the COTA SA reception desk on 08 82320422.