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In mid-2023, the Western Australian government said it would start giving qualifying low-income households free electricity between 9am and 3pm each day – essentially by redistributing excess solar from the roofs of wealthier homes.
The move was aimed at boosting the disposable incomes of struggling families while also making it easier for the electrical grid operator to keep supply and demand in balance.
As more homes and businesses install their own solar systems, grid operators the world over are looking for ways to cope with the glut of day-time energy production — a problem that’s most acute around noon and can destabilise power systems if left unchecked.
One year on: A spokesperson for Synergy, Western Australia’s largest energy retailer, tells The Progress Playbook that 790 households are benefiting from the free-electricity programme, and they’re saving close to A$40 (US$27) a month, on average.
Those customers get 10 units of electricity — the equivalent of around three-quarters of an average household’s daily usage — at no cost between 9am and 3pm.
In effect, the scheme is expanding access to solar energy, the spokesperson says. It’s also “driving behavioural change” by incentivising participating households to shift their energy consumption to off-peak times of the day, when there tends to be surplus energy in the system. This also reduces their energy use during peak times, when demand usually catches up with supply and prices spike.
On its own, Synergy’s “community energy tariff” scheme isn’t moving the demand needle much, but it has nevertheless added another tool to the grid operator’s arsenal as the energy transition accelerates. Already today, rooftop solar systems sometimes provide nearly three-quarters of Western Australia’s power needs.
State regulators also require that all new and upgraded household solar systems are configured in such a way that they can be remotely turned down or off when there’s too much energy online.
Batteries are also a key part of the overall solution, soaking up excess solar power during the day and discharging it back into the grid during the peak morning and evening periods.
Dynamic pricing is considered another useful way to smooth the demand curve.
