What’s the best energy plan with solar and a battery?

Julian, owner of Bright HelpLast checked 17 October 2026

The one that’s cheapest for the way your house uses power, and with solar and a battery that usually means free or very cheap power in the middle of the day. We buy almost all our electricity between 11am and 2pm, when it’s free on our plan, and pay 0.3c a kWh on average, against 24c in 2022.

You can compare every plan on your own meter data in about ten minutes. Choosing one that suits how you’ll use power once things are set up is the harder part.

Compare plans on your own data

Victorian Energy Compare is the Victorian Government’s free comparison site, and it can price every plan on your own smart meter data. Start an electricity comparison and give it the NMI from your bill: a 10 or 11-digit number starting with 6, usually at the top of the second page. It reads how you actually used power and ranks the plans on that.

Your bill may not even name your plan. At one business I looked at in October, it didn’t, and the rates matched the Victorian Default Offer, the government’s reference price. The comparison shows you what else is out there.

The Midday Power Saver

Since 1 October 2026, most Victorian retailers have to offer the Midday Power Saver: electricity at no cost from 11am to 2pm every day, up to 24 kWh a day, for households with a smart meter. It doesn’t come to you on its own: you ask your retailer to switch you, and you can change your mind without an exit fee.

Outside the free hours, its rates and its daily supply charge may be higher than on other plans. Around here, on Powercor’s network, the most a retailer can charge is:

So it suits a house that can move a lot of its use into the middle of the day and keep its evenings light, and a battery helps with both: it can fill up for free on a cloudy day and carry the house through the expensive evening hours. The government estimates that households moving 5% to 30% of their use into the free hours could save between $149 and $428, and that one which can’t move its use may pay more.

Plans with free midday hours were around before it, and they set their own prices outside those hours. Ours is one, and its other hours cost about 25c a kWh. Whether the Power Saver beats what you’re on depends on how you use power, not on the free hours alone.

What a comparison can’t do

It prices the way you used power last year. If you’re about to move the hot water, the pool heater or the EV into the free hours, or add a battery, the plan that suits the house you’ll have may be a different one.

It won’t set anything up, either. The timers, the EV charger and the battery all have to be set to suit the plan, or the free hours go to waste. That’s what the $649 consult is for: I go through how you actually use power, help you switch to the best plans while I’m there, and come back a year later to see whether the savings landed. If I can’t find you any savings, I’ll refund your fee in full.

Spread the big loads

If you’re moving the EV’s charging, the battery and the hot water into the same three hours, stagger them rather than running them all at once. The government’s page says the same: on an older switchboard, several big loads together can trip a breaker, and it suggests having a licensed electrician check first.