Sunday, 23 August 2026

AGL's Solar Sharer plan costs a high-consumption household on the Ausgrid network $3,270 a year, compared with $2,900 on the retailer's Residential Smart Saver plan, according to RenewEconomy. The comparison uses a typical high-consumption figure of 21.6 kWh a day.

The scheme was announced by Australian federal energy minister Chris Bowen in November, RenewEconomy reported. Under it, all electricity companies in NSW, South Australia and South-East Queensland are required by law to offer three free hours of electricity between 11am and 2pm from July 1.

The pattern repeats in Brisbane. On the Energex network, AGL's Solar Sharer offer prices the same high-consumption household at $3,170 a year, which RenewEconomy identifies as the dearest of the retailer's 37 plans there.

Compliance has also slipped. Energy Australia did not have a Solar Sharer offer in place by the legally required date of July 1, according to RenewEconomy. The Australian Energy Regulator did not penalise the retailer and extended the deadline to August 3 for it to list Solar Sharer pricing.

Ty Christopher, Energy Futures Director at the University of Wollongong, said the scheme has become a more expensive option for consumers because of how gentailers and retailers have implemented it.

Two court decisions have forced the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to unfreeze climate and environmental grant money aimed at disadvantaged communities, according to Grist. The Washington, D.C. Circuit Court blocked the agency from rescinding nearly USD 20 billion in Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund awards.

Separately, a South Carolina federal judge ordered the EPA to resume distributing funds designed to address environmental and health challenges in underserved communities, Grist reported.

Taken together, the rulings mean over USD 22 billion meant for climate and environmental projects in disadvantaged communities may soon be distributed, according to Grist.

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund was designed as a USD 27 billion national clean-energy financing program. The awards the D.C. Circuit shielded account for close to three quarters of that total.

Grist also reported that the Trump administration has fired 25 percent of EPA workers since 2024, bringing the agency to its lowest staff total ever. The disbursements now ordered by the courts fall to that reduced workforce.