Free power plans with daily caps, how they compare in Victoria

"Free power" plans have gone from a novelty to something most Victorian households can get. Almost all of them come with a limit on how much free energy you can use each day. That limit, and what happens once you pass it, matters as much as the free hours themselves, especially if you have an EV or a big battery.

Below are the plans we could confirm on the retailer's own website or a government page at the time of writing (November 2026). Plans and rates change often, so always check the current fact sheet before you switch.

The Midday Power Saver (most retailers)

This is the Victorian Government's regulated offer, which started on 1 October 2026. Retailers with 1,000 or more residential customers must offer it.

• Free hours: 11am to 2pm, every day.
• Daily cap: 24 kWh used in the free window.
• Past the cap: the extra is charged, at no more than the plan's solar soak rate (roughly 19 to 20 cents per kWh including GST, depending on your distributor).
• Who can get it: households with a smart meter who opt in.

Because the rates outside the window are capped by regulation, it is the easiest of these plans to judge. We explain it in full in our guide to free midday power in Victoria.

Flow Power 4Free

Flow Power's 4Free plan is available in Victoria.

• Free hours: 11am to 3pm, four hours a day.
• Cap: up to 8 kWh in each of those four hours, so up to 32 kWh a day. Each hour stands on its own, so an hour you do not use does not carry into the next.
• Past the cap: Flow Power says usage above the allowance is not covered by the free credit.
• Exports: for Victoria, the plan lists up to 17 cents per kWh for the first 15 kWh exported between 5:30pm and 9:30pm, 2 cents after that in the same window, and nothing at other times.

The per hour cap is the detail to notice. A large EV charger or a battery charging at full power could run past 8 kWh in an hour on its own, even if your daily total stays under 32 kWh.

OVO Energy Free 4

OVO's Free 4 plan is sold in Victoria.

• Free hours: 11am to 3pm every day, at $0.00 per kWh for eligible usage. Controlled load is not included and supply charges still apply.
• Cap: OVO uses a fair use policy rather than a hard kWh limit. Its policy says use that routinely runs over 24 kWh a day in the free window, or that is not normal household use, is outside fair use.
• Past the cap: instead of charging for the extra, OVO says it may end the plan with written notice, after which you would be supplied under a standard retail contract.

OVO's older Free 3 plan is closed to new customers.

GloBird ZEROHERO (battery households)

ZEROHERO is GloBird's virtual power plant plan, available to residential customers in Victoria who have a home battery (GloBird lists battery sizes from 3 to 100 kWh and inverters from 3 to 30 kW).

• Free hours: 12pm to 3pm for customers who joined from 1 July 2026. Customers who joined earlier keep 11am to 2pm.
• Cap: GloBird states the free charging feature is limited to 50 kWh per day, based on a standard 28 day billing cycle.
• Other conditions: controlled load and dedicated circuits are billed at the normal rate. GloBird also says battery charging may sometimes be reduced or paused because of market conditions, although that does not affect free power used by your household appliances.
• Evening credits: paid for drawing close to nothing from the grid between 6pm and 9pm, plus a bonus on the first 15 kWh exported then.

How to compare free power plans

The free hours get the attention, but they are only part of the bill. When you compare plans, look at:

1. The daily supply charge. Free power plans often carry a higher one. You pay it every day, whether or not you use the free window.
2. The rates outside the free window, especially the evening peak. A household that still cooks, heats and runs the dryer between 4pm and 9pm will pay that rate on a lot of energy.
3. How the cap works. A daily total, an hourly limit, or a fair use policy each behave differently once an EV or battery is involved.
4. What happens past the cap. Charged at a set rate, not credited, or a risk of losing the plan.
5. The feed-in tariff. If you have solar, check what you are paid for exports on that plan, because it can be very different from your current one.
6. Controlled load. If your hot water is on a separate off-peak circuit, that usage is generally not part of the free window on these plans.

Why the cap matters more with a battery

A typical home running a dishwasher, a load of washing and some heating or cooling at midday will often sit under 24 kWh in three hours. The cap bites when you add an EV or a large battery, because they draw a lot quickly and everything in the house counts towards the same cap. A 32 kWh or 50 kWh allowance gives a big battery much more room than 24 kWh. Our guide to charging a home battery from free power goes through this in detail.

Let your own usage decide

The right plan is the one that suits when you actually use power, and that is hard to judge from a list. Upload a recent bill to the Energy Plan Finder. It ranks every Victorian retail plan, free power plans included, on your own usage, and it can show how each one would suit a battery. We take no commission and get nothing from any energy retailer.