Australian energy retailers must offer three hours of free daytime electricity • Hacker News Board

Re: Australian energy retailers must offer three hours of free daytime electricity

#311

Post by seanmcdirmid » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 4:05 PM UTC

AnotherGoodName wrote: post #272

chicken-stew wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, capped at 24 kWh a day? Our household consumed 8 kWh per day over the past week (gas cooking, no airco). So with a home battery that sinks 10 kWh during those 3 hours you have minimal energy costs?

Quite simply put this is what they ask you to do. To the point that the Australian government will heavily subsidise (30%) home battery installation. Remember Australia has over 10x the rollout of solar than china (per capita of course). It’s not hard to achieve this for any competent government. Bluntly China’s government is corrupt and inefficient (usa is even further behind china since their current government is…

China’s problem is geography and density: they have plenty of ideal land for solar in the west, but people largely live in the east in tall apartment blocks in cities that are often cloudy. They build lines to send the power east, but can only build so much capacity per year while the problem is pretty big.

I reckon more Australians live in SFHs than apartment blocks (so have roofs where personal solar makes sense), and the major cities get more son than eastern Chinese cities do.

Re: Australian energy retailers must offer three hours of free daytime electricity

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Post by wolrah » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 4:05 PM UTC

rsanek wrote: post #191

thedays wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes - the regulated offer is capped at 24 kWh per day but some retailers such as Globird and CovaU are offering plans which include up to 50 kWh per day of ‘free’ electricity. With a large enough battery and inverter you could just end up paying daily supply charges of $1.65-2.20 per day.

Critically, that cost excludes the amortized amount the batteries will be over that period. And if you're cycling them every day like this, they're not going to last more than 15~20 years.

> And if you're cycling them every day like this, they're not going to last more than 15~20 years.

You can't make a blanket statement like that because it depends on a lot of variables about their specific battery system and power needs. If you have just enough battery to get through a normal day so you're running them top to bottom every day then sure, those are likely to have a relatively short life. If you've set up your system with extra capacity to support extended total grid outages and/or bad weather now your normal days might only be cycling from 80% down to 60% and back. Of course battery chemistry is also relevant, and a home battery system doesn't need to care about energy density or peak charge/discharge rates in the same way an EV might.

On top of all that, now that we're over 15 years in to mass-produced EVs we've learned that our battery life expectations were generally pessimistic. As long as the batteries are kept within a reasonable temperature range and not otherwise abused they tend to be in pretty good condition even this far in to their expected service life. Home energy storage systems are a lot easier on batteries than automotive use so as a general rule they should last even longer even with similar cycle counts.

Re: Australian energy retailers must offer three hours of free daytime electricity

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Post by seanmcdirmid » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 4:06 PM UTC

AnotherGoodName wrote: post #298

pjc50 wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Australia has over 10x the rollout of solar than china (per capita of course) This is a remarkable stat that's the opposite of what I expected, but I suppose China is (a) starting from a lower base and (b) much, much larger in absolute population. Australia's population would fit in Chongqing.

Chinas solar rollout is absolutely pathetic. Netherlands is a close second to Australia in case anyone wants to argue latitude or population density alone is a cause. Germany’s up there too. In fact on a per capita basis China’s way down the list. Where people get misled on China’s rollout is total generation (since it’s a huge fraction of the worlds population) and the fact that they do large centralised rollouts ra…

How would rooftop solar even work in China, especially in Chinese cities? Is the assumption that SFHs or at least row homes are as common in China as they are in other countries?

Re: Australian energy retailers must offer three hours of free daytime electricity

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Post by ralferoo » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 4:18 PM UTC

tialaramex wrote: post #300

DFHippie wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is paying developers billions of dollars to scrap renewable energy projects. This is Trump policy. We're in a league of our own for sure. It's not all Trump, of course. It's also the people who put him in office twice, the folks who block upgrading the grid, etc. etc.

Trump hates specifically wind turbines (or "windmills" as he insists on calling them). Which isn't to say his administration is friendly to solar projects, but the stuff which makes Trump visibly angry is the wind turbines. The fact this works and is free power is very annoying for a man who insists they can't work and shouldn't be used. So yeah, Trump doesn't help, but in respect specifically of Solar you'd likely s…

From what I can tell, Trump mostly doesn't like them because you can see some from his vanity golf course in Scotland. He has absolutely zero interest in the significant benefits they provide, he only cares about the fact he can see them from "his" land.

I remember when the first ones started appearing in the UK over 30 years ago and people were quick to complain about how ugly they looked. But actually, over time I think most people accept them now, and personally I think they're pretty cool. Most of the UK ones are actually off shore now - you can just about see them from the coast, but they're just small specks on the horizon at that distance. I think the biggest concern people have with them now is the belief that lots of birds get killed by them, but the reality is that actually many more birds die every year from flying into windows than get hit by turbine blades.

Re: Australian energy retailers must offer three hours of free daytime electricity

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Post by insane_dreamer » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 4:56 PM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #313

AnotherGoodName wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chinas solar rollout is absolutely pathetic. Netherlands is a close second to Australia in case anyone wants to argue latitude or population density alone is a cause. Germany’s up there too. In fact on a per capita basis China’s way down the list. Where people get misled on China’s rollout is total generation (since it’s a huge fraction of the worlds population) and the fact that they do large centralised rollouts ra…

How would rooftop solar even work in China, especially in Chinese cities? Is the assumption that SFHs or at least row homes are as common in China as they are in other countries?

SFH's are rare in China outside the villages; big cities are all high-rises (in Beijing, and I believe other large cities, it's illegal to build SFH's within the city limits, though the few remaining "hutongs" are exempted for historical reasons)

Re: Australian energy retailers must offer three hours of free daytime electricity

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Post by pfortuny » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 5:05 PM UTC

thedays wrote: post #131

This article is misleading as it implies that Australian energy retailers must provide every household with 3 hours of free electricity. This is not the case. From 1 July 2026, Australian energy retailers with more than 1,000 customers must offer at least one energy plan which includes 3 hours of free electricity, capped at 24kWh per day, to residential customers in 3 states - NSW, SE Queensland and South Australia.…

Unbelievable: I read the title and the only thought I got was that households get 3h free energy in Australia.

Re: Australian energy retailers must offer three hours of free daytime electricity

#317

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 5:10 PM UTC

AnotherGoodName wrote: post #298

pjc50 wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Australia has over 10x the rollout of solar than china (per capita of course) This is a remarkable stat that's the opposite of what I expected, but I suppose China is (a) starting from a lower base and (b) much, much larger in absolute population. Australia's population would fit in Chongqing.

Chinas solar rollout is absolutely pathetic. Netherlands is a close second to Australia in case anyone wants to argue latitude or population density alone is a cause. Germany’s up there too. In fact on a per capita basis China’s way down the list. Where people get misled on China’s rollout is total generation (since it’s a huge fraction of the worlds population) and the fact that they do large centralised rollouts ra…

[deleted]

Re: Australian energy retailers must offer three hours of free daytime electricity

#318

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 5:12 PM UTC

hahahaa wrote: post #80

worthless-trash wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

40c outside during summer in these times.. yeah.. hardly needed.

You need a battery to take advantage: then you may as well use a direct to market option like Amber. Which benefits grid stability too. 3 hrs without a battery is useless in Australia. As you generally use electricity for heating/cooling and need it longer than that esp. cooling.

[deleted]

Re: Australian energy retailers must offer three hours of free daytime electricity

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Post by worthless-trash » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 5:12 PM UTC

hahahaa wrote: post #80

worthless-trash wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

40c outside during summer in these times.. yeah.. hardly needed.

You need a battery to take advantage: then you may as well use a direct to market option like Amber. Which benefits grid stability too. 3 hrs without a battery is useless in Australia. As you generally use electricity for heating/cooling and need it longer than that esp. cooling.

I assure you first hand, you can turn on the heater (during winter) or airconditioner without battery and take advantage of this.

You can wash your clothes during this time to take advantage on this.

You can cook on the electric stove during this time to take advantage of this.

No battery is required to do this. I can't connect your logic to my reality.

Re: Australian energy retailers must offer three hours of free daytime electricity

#320

Post by insane_dreamer » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 5:16 PM UTC

freshpots wrote: post #238

throwaway2037 wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am able to charge cars at work Nice perk! Does you know who pays for the electricty? Is this "virtue signalling" by the company or landlord... or a subsidy from the local/state/national gov't? To be clear, I am not making any value judgement about providing free charging for EVs. It seems like good gov't policy to promote the adoption of EVs.

It costs $5-$10 for the electricity to charge a car using level 2 charging. It is a trivial "perk" for an employee that costs an order of magnitude more per hour of work.

it costs me ~$5 to charge my car overnight at home (level-2) thanks to a residential electricity plan that offers very cheap night/weekend rates in exchange for more expensive rates at peak hours