Smart meters and free power

What a smart meter is

A smart meter is an electricity meter that records your use in short intervals and sends the readings to your retailer remotely. The meters it replaces, which the rules call legacy meters, only record a running total and need someone to come and read them. A legacy meter can say how much power you used last quarter, but not whether you used it at noon or at 6pm.

That timing is the whole point. Time-of-use plans, demand plans and the free-power plans all price electricity differently by hour, and they only work with interval data. The same data lets you compare plans properly, because a comparison can use your real pattern of use rather than an average.

Why the free-power plans require one

The Solar Sharer Offer gives three free hours every day (11am-2pm in NSW and South East Queensland, 12pm-3pm in South Australia) up to a daily cap. Victoria's Midday Power Saver does the same from 11am-2pm. A retailer can only zero-rate those hours if the meter records them separately, so both schemes are open only to homes with a smart meter. Rooftop solar is not required, and renters qualify. Our eligibility checker walks through the other conditions, such as not being in an embedded network.

How to tell if you have a smart meter

• Ask your retailer. It knows your meter type and can tell you on the phone or in its app.
• Think about meter readers. If someone still visits to read your meter, it is a legacy meter, not a smart one.
• Look at your bill and app. If your retailer shows your use by the hour or half hour, it is getting interval data from a smart meter.
• In Victoria, assume yes. 99% of Victorian meters were read remotely in 2024, after the state's own rollout.

How to get one, and what it costs

In NSW, Queensland and South Australia, you ask your retailer, not the network company that owns the poles and wires. The AER sets out what happens next:

• Your retailer has 20 business days to arrange the installation once you ask.
• It must tell you before it installs, and give you a five-day date range for the visit.
• You do not need to be home, but the installer needs safe access. The power is turned off for a short time.
• The installer will not ask you for payment or personal information.

Cost: there is no fee if your retailer contacts you first as part of the rollout, and the national rule bans upfront charges for those installations. If you request the meter yourself, including because you are installing solar or a battery, your retailer may charge you. Ask for the price in writing before you agree. If the fee is significant, it may be worth waiting to see when your area is scheduled under the rollout.

The rollout to 2030: you can no longer refuse

In November 2024 the Australian Energy Market Commission made a rule to accelerate smart meter deployment, aiming for universal coverage across NSW, the ACT, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania by 2030. Retailers and metering coordinators must replace every legacy meter by 1 December 2030, and the accelerated replacement program started in December 2025.

Each network publishes a legacy meter replacement plan that sets out how many meters it will replace each year, grouped by postcode or suburb. The rule also removed the right to opt out: if your retailer contacts you to install a smart meter, you cannot refuse. You can ask for remote communications to be disabled, but you may then be charged meter reading fees and lose some services.

The two-year protection on your tariff

Many people worry that a new meter means being pushed onto a pricier time-of-use plan. The rule deals with that directly. For two years after installation, your retailer must get your explicit informed consent before changing your tariff structure. This transitional safeguard runs from 1 December 2025 to 31 May 2031. After the two years, a retailer can change the structure, but it must give you 30 days notice and an estimate of what your past bills would have been. Retailers must also offer smart meter customers a flat-rate option.

If something goes wrong, complain to your retailer first, then to your state energy ombudsman. The AER is not a complaints body.

What changes on your bill

Two separate prices sit behind your bill. The network tariff is what the network charges your retailer for using the poles and wires. The retail tariff is the plan you actually pay. A new smart meter can change the first without changing the second.

Networks increasingly move smart meter customers onto cost-reflective network tariffs. SA Power Networks assigns smart-metered homes to its residential time-of-use network tariff by default. Ausgrid's default is a demand tariff: an introductory demand tariff for 12 months, then its standard one, with time-of-use available through your retailer instead. These are charges to the retailer. Your own plan stays as it is for two years unless you agree to a change.

The free-power plans follow the same logic. The AER's rules let retailers move a Solar Sharer customer onto an underlying time-of-use network tariff, but they cannot require you to be on a time-of-use network tariff before you opt in. Once you are on a free-power plan, you are on a time-of-use retail plan by definition: read our time-of-use tariff guide to see what that means for the other 21 hours of the day.

Smart meters by state

• NSW, Queensland and South Australia: fewer than half of meters were smart in 2024. If you want the free hours now, ask your retailer rather than waiting for your suburb's turn, and check the fee first.
• Victoria: the network companies already installed smart meters almost everywhere, so most households can take up the Midday Power Saver straight away. Victoria is not covered by the national accelerated rule; the Essential Services Commission handles customer rights there.
• ACT and Tasmania: the rollout applies, but the free-power plans do not.

Got a smart meter already? See which retailers offer the free-power plan in your area on the retailer register, and compare every plan at your address on the government's Energy Made Easy or, in Victoria, Victorian Energy Compare.

Common questions

Do I need a smart meter to get free electricity?

Yes. The Solar Sharer Offer in NSW, South East Queensland and South Australia, and the Midday Power Saver in Victoria, are only available to households with a smart meter, because an old meter cannot tell when you used power. You do not need rooftop solar. Check the rest of the rules with our eligibility checker.

Is a smart meter free?

It is free if your retailer contacts you to install it as part of the rollout, and the national rule bans upfront charges for those installations. If you ask for one yourself, including when you add solar or a battery, your retailer may charge you. Ask what it will cost before you agree.

Can I refuse a smart meter?

Not any more in NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania or the ACT. Under the accelerated rollout rule, if your retailer contacts you to replace an old meter, you cannot opt out. You can ask for the remote communications to be switched off, but you may then pay meter reading fees and lose some services.

Will a smart meter put me on a time-of-use plan?

Not without your say-so for two years. For two years after a new smart meter is installed, your retailer needs your explicit informed consent to change your tariff structure. After that it can change it with 30 days notice and an estimate based on your past bills. Retailers must also offer smart meter customers a flat-rate option.

How long does it take to get a smart meter?

Once you ask, your retailer has 20 business days to arrange the installation. It must tell you before it installs and give you a five-day window for the visit. You do not need to be home, but the installer needs safe access to the meter, and the power goes off for a short time.

Sources

1. AER, Consumer rights and smart meters, checked 17 October 2026
2. Energy Networks Australia, Time to accelerate: AEMC hits go on smart meter rollout (meter shares by state), checked 17 October 2026
3. pv magazine, AEMC finalises landmark reform to accelerate smart meter rollout (AEMC release), checked 17 October 2026
4. energy.gov.au, Solar Sharer Offer (smart meter required), checked 17 October 2026
5. AER, Solar Sharer Offer fact sheet (network tariff reassignment), checked 17 October 2026
6. AER, Default Market Offer 2026-27 information kit (why a smart meter matters for your bill), checked 17 October 2026
7. SA Power Networks, 2026-27 customer overview (default network tariff for smart meters), checked 17 October 2026
8. AER, Ausgrid tariff structure statement 2024-29 final decision (network tariff assignment), checked 17 October 2026