The Best Electricity Plan for a Solar Battery in Queensland? AGL’s $0.28 vs Origin’s $0.29 vs Flow Power Massive $0.45 per kW
Updated August 2026
If you already own a solar battery — or you're thinking about installing one — choosing the right electricity retailer could be just as important as choosing the battery itself.
For years, the basic strategy for a Queensland solar home was simple: generate as much solar power as possible during the day, use what you can in the house, charge your battery with the excess and send anything left over back to the electricity grid.
But the electricity market is changing.
Solar feed-in tariffs during the middle of the day have generally become less attractive, while electricity retailers are increasingly offering higher feed-in tariffs for battery exports during evening peak periods.
That means your battery is no longer just a device for storing solar power and reducing your electricity bill.
With the right electricity plan, your battery can potentially become an energy asset that earns you money by exporting electricity when the grid values it most.
So, which electricity plan is best for a solar battery in Queensland?
We have looked at three of the plans currently attracting attention from battery owners — AGL Battery Rewards, Origin Battery Starter and Flow Power's Battery Happy Hour — and the answer isn't quite as simple as choosing the plan with the biggest feed-in tariff.
Why electricity tariffs matter so much when you have a battery
A solar battery changes the way you interact with the electricity grid.
Without a battery, excess solar generated during the middle of the day is generally exported immediately. You receive a solar feed-in tariff for that electricity.
The problem is that lots of Australian homes now have solar panels generating electricity at exactly the same time. At lunchtime, there can be a huge amount of rooftop solar entering the grid. At around dinner time, however, solar generation is falling while household electricity demand is increasing.
This creates a very different value for electricity depending on when it is exported.
That's why some electricity retailers are now paying substantially higher feed-in tariffs for electricity exported from batteries during evening peak periods. For a battery owner, this creates another option:
Store your excess solar during the day, then export some of that stored energy when the feed-in tariff is highest.
The catch?
You need enough battery capacity, enough solar generation and the right household electricity usage pattern for the strategy to make sense. Even if you take advantage of this over the winter months when your not using your AC, you may be able to build up enough credits to carry you through the summer.
AGL Battery Rewards
AGL's Battery Rewards Plan is currently advertising a 28c/kWh feed-in tariff for battery exports between 5pm and 9pm.
Outside that period, AGL currently lists a 3c/kWh feed-in tariff. The plan is available to eligible residential battery customers in Queensland and other participating states. The important point is that this isn't simply a traditional solar feed-in tariff.
AGL is specifically rewarding customers for exporting electricity from their battery during the evening peak.
And importantly, the customer remains in control of the battery. AGL says customers can choose how much energy they export during the peak period. So unlike a VPP where they determine how much is taken, your still in the driving seat. Many of our customers are now taking advantage of set and forget forced battery discharge schedules to help eliminate their power bills.
Why AGL could work well
For a household with a reasonably large battery, AGL's 5pm–9pm export window is quite useful.
Four hours gives the battery plenty of time to discharge gradually rather than trying to empty it in a very short period.
For example, if a battery exported 10kWh between 5pm and 9pm at 28c/kWh, that would produce:
10kWh × $0.28 = $2.80
Do that five days a week for a year and the gross feed-in credits would be approximately:
$728 per year
That's before considering the electricity the household consumes directly from the battery and the other charges and rates on the electricity plan.
The important question isn't simply "How much does AGL pay?"
The better question is:
How much energy can your battery realistically export without leaving you buying expensive electricity from the grid later that night?
That's where battery sizing becomes important.
Origin Battery Starter
Origin has also entered the battery-focused tariff market with its Battery Starter plan.
Origin currently advertises a boosted feed-in tariff of 26.5–29c/kWh during peak periods, depending on the customer's state and network. In Queensland, the peak period is currently 4pm–9pm.
That makes Origin particularly interesting for Queensland battery owners because the export window starts earlier than AGL's. This means if you have a bigger battery, you could benefit from an extra $1.40 credit per day than being with AGL.
Origin says customers remain in control of their battery and can schedule it using their battery manufacturer's app. There are also no caps on solar and battery exports under the plan, subject to eligibility and plan conditions.
The Origin advantage
The five-hour Queensland peak window gives you flexibility. If your household normally starts using significant amounts of electricity around 4pm, you may not want your battery exporting heavily immediately.
Instead, you could potentially use some stored energy within the home and then export surplus battery energy later in the evening.
That flexibility can be valuable. But again, the headline feed-in tariff doesn't tell the whole story.
The electricity rate you pay when you import power from the grid, the daily supply charge and the amount of energy your home consumes all need to be considered. This is something our team know how to do very well and can highlight what you need to be looking for.
Flow Power: the biggest feed-in tariff — but also has the biggest daily connection fee….
This is where things get particularly interesting.
Flow Power's current Flow Home Happy Hour offering advertises a boosted battery feed-in tariff of 45c/kWh in Queensland, between 5:30pm and 7:30pm every day. Outside that window, the current export rate is 0c/kWh.
That is a very different proposition to AGL and Origin.
At first glance, 45c/kWh looks like the obvious winner. But look more closely. The Flow Power strategy relies heavily on having a battery that can store your daytime solar and then discharge it during the four-hour evening window.
For example, exporting 10kWh during Happy Hour would generate:
10kWh × $0.45 = $4.50
If you could genuinely export 10kWh every day, that would equate to approximately:
$1,642.50 per year
That's considerably more than exporting the same 10kWh at 28c/kWh.
But there is a catch. Flow Power currently pays 0c/kWh outside the Happy Hour export window. That means you don't want to accidentally finish the day with a full battery and then have your solar system export excess electricity at a time when it earns nothing. This plan therefore places a much greater emphasis on battery management and system control. It is worth consider how quickly your battery fills up too. If you battery charges early, you could miss out on exporting the excess during the day. Even though $0.03 cents looks more appealing than $0.00…. Is the extra earnings during the peak hour worth your while?
Not only that, their connection fee is also sitting at $2.31 per day where i live on the Sunshine Coast. Thats just short of a dollar more than the other comparison companies. So you reap the rewards during the peak feed in but pay the price else where.
So which plan is actually best?
This is where we think battery owners need to be careful.
It is tempting to create a simple table and declare:
Flow Power = 45c
AGL = 28c
Origin = up to 29c
If you look at the cost per watt - Flow Power wins. But - your capped at 15 kWs per day and there is also the daily connection fee which is nearly a dollar dearer than its competitors. Couple that with a $0 feed tariff for the rest of your excess and its not looking too promising.
The best electricity plan depends on what your household does with its electricity.
Consider three different homes.
Home 1: High evening electricity consumption
Imagine a home that uses 20kWh every night.
The household gets home at 5pm, cooks dinner, runs air conditioning, heats water, watches television and continues consuming electricity until midnight.
For this household, exporting a large amount of battery energy during the evening may not be particularly beneficial.
The battery is already doing something extremely valuable:
It is avoiding expensive electricity purchases from the grid.
If the household could use stored solar energy instead of buying electricity at, for example, 30–40c/kWh, consuming that energy itself may be more valuable than exporting it for 28c or even 35c.
Home 2: Low evening electricity consumption
Now imagine a home that uses only 7–10kWh overnight and has a 20–30kWh battery.
This household may regularly reach the evening with substantially more stored energy than it needs.
Suddenly, a high evening feed-in tariff becomes extremely attractive.
Instead of allowing that excess energy to sit in the battery or be exported for a few cents during the day, the homeowner could potentially export it during the retailer's premium period.
This is where plans such as AGL Battery Rewards and Flow Power can become particularly interesting.
Home 3: Large solar system + large battery
This is where things get really interesting.
A household with a large solar system and a large battery may be able to:
Power the home during the day from solar.
Charge the battery with excess solar.
Maintain enough energy for overnight consumption.
Export additional stored energy during the evening peak.
Potentially reduce grid purchases to very low levels.
For the right household, the electricity retailer becomes another part of the battery system design.
Don't forget the most important number: the electricity rate you pay
This is probably the biggest mistake we see when people compare electricity plans.
They look at the feed-in tariff and ignore the electricity usage rate.
A retailer offering 45c/kWh for battery exports sounds fantastic.
But if the electricity you need to buy from the grid costs significantly more than another plan, the high feed-in tariff may not actually produce the lowest annual electricity bill.
The same applies to daily supply charges.
A difference of 30 cents per day might sound insignificant.
But:
$0.30 × 365 days = $109.50 per year.
Over several years, those seemingly small differences become meaningful.
That's why comparing electricity plans should always involve:
Daily supply charge
Peak electricity rate
Off-peak electricity rate
Solar feed-in tariff
Battery export tariff
Peak export period
Off-peak export rate
Any export limits
Any battery eligibility requirements
Any VPP requirements
Any sign-up credits
Contract conditions
How frequently the retailer can change rates
The real value of a battery isn't always the feed-in tariff
There is another important calculation.
Suppose you have 10kWh sitting in your battery.
You have two choices.
Option A — export it
If you export it for 28c/kWh:
10 × $0.28 = $2.80
Option B — use it yourself
If using that stored electricity prevents you from buying 10kWh from the grid at 35c/kWh:
10 × $0.35 = $3.50
In this simplified example, using your battery yourself is worth more than exporting it.
But if you could export that same 10kWh for 45c/kWh:
10 × $0.45 = $4.50
Suddenly exporting becomes more valuable.
This is why battery time-of-use tariffs are changing the way we should think about solar battery design.
The question is no longer simply:
"How much electricity do I use at night?"
It is becoming:
"When is my electricity worth the most, and how can my battery move energy into that period?"
Does a bigger battery make more money?
Not necessarily.
This is an important point for anyone considering a solar battery installation.
A larger battery gives you more storage capacity, but you still need enough solar energy to fill it and enough opportunity to use or export the stored electricity.
A 30kWh battery isn't automatically better than a 15kWh battery.
If your household only consumes 10kWh overnight and your solar system doesn't regularly produce enough excess energy to charge the battery, you may have paid for storage capacity that you rarely use.
On the other hand, a household with a large solar system, high daytime generation and a low evening load could potentially benefit from additional battery capacity specifically because it creates more opportunity to participate in premium evening export tariffs.
This is why battery sizing should be based on your actual electricity consumption and solar production, rather than simply choosing the biggest battery available.
What about the Queensland battery rebate?
The economics of a battery also need to take into account the available government incentives.
Eligible Queensland homeowners can currently access the federal Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme incentives for eligible battery installations, with the level of support depending on the system and installation circumstances.
The incentive structure is changing over time, so anyone considering a new solar battery should check the current eligibility requirements rather than relying on an older quote or article.
For Sunshine Coast homeowners, this can make the difference between a battery being an attractive long-term investment and a battery taking considerably longer to pay itself off.
Should you choose AGL, Origin or Flow Power?
There isn't one answer that suits every home.
Based on the current advertised structures, we'd look at them like this:
AGL Battery Rewards 28c/kWh 5pm–9pm 3c/kWh Homes wanting a longer evening export window
Origin Battery Starter 26.5–29c/kWh* 4pm–9pm QLD Standard FiT Homes wanting a broad evening window
Flow Power Happy Hour 45c/kWh QLD 5:30pm–7:30pm 0c/kWh Larger batteries with strong control over evening exports
*Origin's exact rate varies according to state and network, i’m going with our local price.
Flow Power currently has the most eye-catching Queensland export rate, but its two-hour export window and 0c/kWh rate outside the window mean it requires more careful battery management.
AGL offers a lower headline rate but a much longer four-hour export window, which could be easier for some households to utilise.
Origin's Queensland peak period begins earlier, at 4pm, which may suit households whose battery starts discharging or whose solar production is already falling in the late afternoon.
Our advice: don't choose the electricity plan before you design the battery
This is perhaps the biggest takeaway.
If you're installing a solar battery in Queensland, don't choose the battery first and the electricity plan afterwards.
Look at the two together.
Your solar system, inverter, battery capacity, household consumption, electricity tariff and export strategy should all work as one system.
At Logic Solar, when we assess a battery installation, we want to understand:
How much solar electricity your system produces
How much electricity your home uses
When you use that electricity
How much electricity you currently export
How much you buy from the grid
Your existing electricity tariff
Your battery capacity
Your inverter capacity
Your export limitations
Whether battery backup is important to you
Whether you want to maximise self-consumption
Whether you want to participate in battery export programs
Whether your goal is the lowest possible power bill or maximum battery revenue
A battery that is perfectly sized for one home may be completely oversized for another.
And the electricity plan that produces the best result for one battery owner could actually cost another homeowner more.
The future of solar batteries is becoming more interesting
The Australian electricity market is changing rapidly.
Rooftop solar has changed the value of daytime electricity. Battery storage is now changing the value of evening electricity.
The emergence of battery-specific feed-in tariffs suggests that retailers increasingly want access to stored energy at the times when electricity demand is highest.
For homeowners, that creates an opportunity.
Instead of simply asking:
"What is the highest solar feed-in tariff?"
we should be asking:
"What is the best way to use every kilowatt-hour my solar system produces?"
Sometimes that means charging your battery and using the electricity yourself.
Sometimes it means exporting to the grid.
And increasingly, it may mean storing solar during the day and deliberately exporting it during an evening peak period when the electricity retailer is willing to pay a premium.
The best solution will depend on your home.
Thinking about installing a solar battery on the Sunshine Coast?
If you're considering solar battery installation on the Sunshine Coast, don't start by choosing the biggest battery or the electricity retailer offering the highest headline feed-in tariff.
Start with your electricity bill.
Your actual consumption profile tells us far more about the battery you need than a generic battery calculator.
At Logic Solar, we design and install residential solar batteries across the Sunshine Coast, including AC-coupled and DC-coupled battery systems, whole-home backup solutions and battery systems designed to maximise solar self-consumption. We work with leading battery systems including Tesla Powerwall 3, Sungrow SBR, BYD HVM, Fronius Reserva, Sonnen and other established battery technologies.
We can look at your existing solar system, electricity usage and power bills and help determine whether your priority should be:
Lower electricity bills.
Greater energy independence.
Backup power during outages.
Maximum solar self-consumption.
Or taking advantage of battery time-of-use and evening feed-in tariffs.
Because the best solar battery isn't necessarily the biggest battery.
And the best electricity plan isn't necessarily the one advertising the biggest number.
The best combination is the one that makes the most sense for the way your home actually produces and uses electricity.
Click here to start your talks about sizing a battery that is right for you and your home.