EV Electricity Plans in Australia: How to Pick the Right One

The right EV electricity plan is the one that makes your total bill cheapest, not the one with the lowest advertised EV rate. There are three main types: plans with a cheap overnight window (usually midnight to 6am, from about 4.5c to 8c/kWh as of September 2026), plans with a free midday window (including the government’s new Solar Sharer Offer in NSW, South East Queensland and South Australia), and wholesale or app-controlled plans that decide when to charge for you. Match the window to when your car is actually parked at home, then compare whole-of-bill costs on Energy Made Easy, or Victorian Energy Compare if you live in Victoria.

What types of EV electricity plan are there?

Overnight EV plans. A time-of-use plan with a cut-price window, usually midnight to 6am, when the grid is quiet. You set the car or charger to start at midnight and wake up full. These suit anyone whose car sleeps at home, which is most commuters. Some apply the cheap rate to everything on the meter in that window; others limit it to EV charging.

Free or cheap midday plans. Solar floods the grid in the middle of the day, so some plans make that window free. These suit people who work from home, retirees, shift workers and households with a second car that stays put. They are useless for a car that spends the day in an office car park.

Solar Sharer Offer. The federal government’s regulated version of the midday plan, covered in its own section below.

Wholesale and app-controlled plans. Some retailers pass through the wholesale price, or connect to your car and pick the cheapest hours automatically. They can be the cheapest option of all, and they expose you to price spikes if you are not careful. They work best with a car or smart charger that the retailer’s app can control.

Which retailers offer EV plans?

These are the offers we checked on each retailer’s own website in September 2026. Rates are as advertised, usually variable, and exclude supply charges. Always read the plan’s fact sheet for your address before switching.

Two more worth knowing about. GloBird’s ZEROHERO offers free power from 12pm to 3pm for customers joining from 1 July 2026, up to 50kWh a day, but it is a virtual power plant plan designed around home batteries. And Amber passes through wholesale prices and charges your car when power is cheap or your panels have spare output.

This is not every EV plan in the market, and new ones appear every few months. The government comparison sites below list far more, filtered to your address.

What is the Solar Sharer Offer, and is it good for EV owners?

The Solar Sharer Offer is a regulated standing offer set by the Australian Energy Regulator. It has been available since 1 July 2026 to households with a smart meter in NSW, South East Queensland and South Australia, as part of the 2026-27 Default Market Offer. You don’t need solar panels. Retailers with more than 1,000 customers in those areas must offer it, and you have to opt in.

According to the AER’s fact sheet, the free period is 11am to 2pm in NSW and South East Queensland and 12pm to 3pm in South Australia, all year round. Usage over 24kWh in the window is charged. That cap is plenty for an EV: 24kWh is roughly 150km of driving for a typical car, and a 7kW charger can’t deliver much more than 21kWh in three hours anyway.

The catch is the rest of the day. The AER has loaded the forgone revenue onto the other hours, so in the Ausgrid network area the offer charges 28c/kWh overnight and 64c/kWh in the evening peak, with a supply charge of $1.76 a day. There is no cheap overnight window. For a commuter who charges at night it is likely to be worse than a good overnight EV plan. For someone whose car is home at lunchtime, it can be excellent. The federal government says it is working with other states on a possible expansion, but for now Victoria, Tasmania, WA, the NT, the ACT and regional Queensland are not covered.

How do you compare EV electricity plans properly?

Four numbers decide it, and the EV rate is only one of them.

1. The cheap window’s rate and hours. Six hours at 7kW is up to about 42kWh a night, far more than most people need. A portable charger at about 2.4kW adds around 14kWh in the same six hours, so check the window is long enough for your setup.
2. The daily supply charge. A plan 20c a day dearer costs $73 more a year before you use a single kWh.
3. The peak and shoulder rates. Your fridge, cooking, heating and cooling still run on them. Time-of-use EV plans often have steep evening peaks.
4. The feed-in tariff, if you have solar. Some EV plans pay less for exports.

The honest way to compare is with your own usage. Energy Made Easy is the federal government’s free comparison site for NSW, the ACT, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania, and Victorian Energy Compare is the Victorian government’s equivalent. Both are government-run and free to use. Add your expected EV charging to your current usage (about 160kWh a month for 12,000km a year) so the comparison reflects your new bill, not your old one.

Worked example: a 12,000km-a-year driver

Take a household using 4,000kWh a year for the house, plus an EV driven 12,000km a year. At about 16kWh per 100km, the car adds roughly 1,920kWh. The two plans below are illustrative, not real offers, but the pattern is typical.

The EV plan saves about $250 a year here, not the $420 the EV rate alone suggests, because the rest of the house pays a little more. Notice the bottom row too: the same EV plan would cost a household without a car about $175 a year more. That’s why you compare total bills. For the cost per kilometre and petrol comparison, see what it costs to charge an electric car.

Which plan suits you?

• Car home overnight, no solar: an overnight EV plan, with charging scheduled from the car or charger. Our guide to charging an EV at home covers the hardware.
• Car home in the day: a free midday plan or the Solar Sharer Offer, if you are in a covered area.
• Rooftop solar: use your own surplus first (our solar EV charging guide runs the maths), then an overnight plan for the rest. Check the feed-in tariff you would give up.
• Comfortable with apps and price swings: a wholesale or app-controlled plan, ideally with a smart charger or a compatible car.

Whichever you choose, set a reminder to recheck in a year. Retailers change EV plans often, and the AER sets the Solar Sharer rates afresh each financial year.