13 March 2026, 4 mins
If you have solar panels at home, your system will often generate more electricity than you use. When that happens, the extra energy flows back into the grid. This is called a solar export, and you can earn money for it through a feed-in tariff. The rate you get paid varies depending on the size of your system and your electricity provider.
Since the rapid uptake of rooftop solar in Australia, feed-in tariffs have dropped industry wide, simply because there’s now so much solar in the grid during the day.
The electricity market has changed drastically over the last decade, and now, the grid typically doesn’t need more electricity fed in during peak solar hours. That’s why today, the time you export electricity is just as important as how much as how much you export.
With the right storage setup, you can time your exports, so they occur when energy is more valuable – to you and to the grid. This guide explains how solar exports work, how Flow Home rewards smart exports, and how to manage your exports using your inverter, battery and the Flow Power app.
Solar exports occur when your solar system generates more electricity than your home needs at that moment.
Your home uses the solar power first. Then, any extra electricity flows back into the grid, and your retailer may pay you for it through a feed-in tariff.
Although many electricity retailers offer a flat export rate, rates across the board are dipping due to the influx of rooftop solar. For households seeking better returns, there are new alternatives coming into the market that offer higher feed-in rates, in line with conditions on the wholesale market – like Flow Home.
Learn moreDuring the middle of the day, millions of Australian homes are producing solar power. This means the grid often has more solar energy than it needs.
In the evening, the situation flips. Demand increases as people cook dinner, run appliances and turn on heating or cooling.
Because of this, electricity exported in the evening can be much more valuable to the grid than daytime exports.
That’s why Flow Home rewards exports during peak demand periods with the highest rate in the market. We call this window Happy Hour.
Flow Home’s Happy Hour is a daily export window that rewards customers for sending electricity to the grid when it’s needed most.
The export window runs from:
5:30pm to 7:30pm (local time), every day
During this time, you’ll receive a boosted feed-in tariff of:
Outside this window, the export rate is currently 0c/kWh, which encourages households to store their solar energy during the day using a battery, and export it later to maximise its value.
Unlike some of the similar electricity contracts in the market, Flow Home doesn’t remotely control your battery or inverter. You’ll always be in full control.
Some VPP programs remotely control customers’ batteries and decide when they charge or export electricity. But Flow Home is not a Virtual Power Plant (VPP).
This means you decide how and when your system exports electricity.
There are a few simple ways to make your solar exports work harder for you.
One simple strategy is to shift using energy intensive appliances into solar hours, so you use your own electricity rather than exporting it at low value times.
Running the dishwasher or washing machine
This helps reduce low-value daytime exports and improves your solar self-consumption.
A battery allows you to store excess solar power generated during the day.
You can then use or export that energy later when wholesale market prices are higher.
Many Flow Home customers charge their battery during the day and export it during the 5.30 pm to 7:30 pm Happy Hour window when the feed-in tariff is highest.
Most modern solar batteries allow you to schedule charge and discharge times using their monitoring apps.Typically, this is done using Time of Use (TOU) or time-based control settings.
An average export schedule might look like:
This ensures your stored energy is available when export rates are highest and setting a battery reserve limit promotes longevity for your set up.
The Flow Power app helps you understand how your energy is being used and exported.
Using the app, you can:
While the app helps you track energy patterns, it does not control your solar system directly.
See how the Flow Power app works when you sign up.
Flow Home’s feed-in tariff structure is designed to reward households that can control when they export electricity.
Battery owners are are natural fit for Flow Home because they can:
By aligning exports with the Happy Hour window, households can potentially earn more from the same solar system. It’s a simple way to make your system work smarter, not harder.
Managing your solar exports doesn’t need to be complicated.
Flow Home simply provides the pricing signals that help you make smarter decisions about when to export your energy, while you stay in full control of your system.
Make the switch today.
Switch now