Name: Labor proposes free midday electricity in push towards solar
Uploaded: 2025-11-04T06:16:35.352Z
Duration: 1 min 49 s
Description: Energy Minister Chris Bower has proposed a new plan to force energy retailers to provide three hours of free electricity in the middle of the day. The scheme is expected to start trials in July next year in three states.

Energy Minister Chris Bower has proposed a new plan to force energy retailers to provide three hours of free electricity in the middle of the day. The scheme is expected to start trials in July next year in three states.

Canberra

The Australian government has announced a new policy requiring energy retailers to offer households three hours of free electricity during the middle of the day, leveraging the country's significant solar generation capacity. The scheme is opt-in and will initially be available in New South Wales, South East Queensland, and South Australia from July next year, with other states and territories expected to join in 2027.

Eligibility for the program requires a smart meter, which may exclude some renters. While the government claims the initiative will not increase power prices, the Australian Energy Council has expressed disappointment over the lack of consultation and raised concerns about potential costs at other times of the day. The Australian Energy Regulator will oversee the scheme to ensure consumer interests are protected.

Labor proposes free midday electricity in push towards solar

Off and racing. The place is on fire! Photo finish! Speaker! Not quite Flemington, but our politicians were charged up as Labor supercharges its push for renewables. We're a solar nation with 4.2 million houses with solar panels on their roofs. That means we have lots of electricity in the middle of the day. Which will soon be offered to households for free. Energy retailers will be forced to offer customers three hours of free power during the middle of the day. This will also help the grid more broadly as people move their demand to the middle of the day. But what's the catch? There is no catch, but it's up to people whether they take this offer up. Making the scheme opt-in. You'll also need to have a smart meter to be eligible. Too many renters will be excluded from this because they haven't got the right meter. We are leading the world in this space, so it makes sense that all Australians get as much benefit from that electricity as possible. The big winners? Australians who work from home, retirees and stay-at-home parents. Or even someone who's at work but has apps that control their devices, whether it be EV charging or their dishwasher. The scheme will start in July next year, but only in New South Wales, South East Queensland and South Australia. Other states and territories are expected to follow in 2027. But not everybody's happy. The Australian Energy Council says it's disappointed by the government's lack of consultation. They have to give you free power at some part of the day. They're going to make you pay more at other parts of the day. But the government insists the scheme will not drive up power prices. The Australian Energy Regulator will ensure that the offer is in the best interests of consumers. Matthew Karstunen, 10 News.

There has been a sharp escalation in bloodshed in the conflict since Rapid Support Forces fighters captured the city of al-Fashir.

Al Fashir

United States working to secure a humanitarian truce in Sudan

The Trump administration says it will restart the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, but will only pay half the amount people usually get. The move comes after two federal judges ruled that freezing payments for the U.S.'s biggest anti-hunger program is unlawful.

Washington

Trump administration will partially restore food benefit funding

Manufacturing giant Kimberly-Clark is set to acquire Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, for $48.7 billion. CBS News MoneyWatch correspondent Kelly O'Grady has more details.

Kimberly-Clark to buy Tylenol maker Kenvue for nearly $50 billion

Russia said on Monday that its troops had advanced in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, a transport and logistics hub that they have been trying to capture for over a year, but Ukraine said its forces were holding on.

Pokrovsk

Ukraine Invasion

Ukraine sends special forces to Pokrovsk

Israeli police have arrested a former military prosecutor after she leaked a video appearing to show soldiers abusing a Palestinian detainee. Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi was detained overnight on Monday following a scandal that erupted after she leaked a video, resigned and then disappeared.

Jerusalem

Middle East Conflict

Israel arrests ex-army lawyer over leaked video showing abuse

U.S. President Donald Trump told 60 Minutes he thinks Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's days are numbered amid the U.S. striking another boat in the Caribbean allegedly transporting drugs.

Trump sounds off on Venezuela's Maduro as deadly boat strikes continue

A mayor in Mexico's western state of Michoacan was shot dead in a plaza in front of dozens of people who had gathered for Day of the Dead festivities, authorities said. Local politicians in Mexico are frequently victims of political and organized crime violence.

Michoacán

Mexican mayor killed during Day of the Dead celebrations

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif early on Monday, killing at least 20 people, injuring hundreds and damaging the city's historic Blue Mosque, authorities said, with the death toll likely to rise.

Mazar-i-Sharif

Deadly earthquake rocks northern Afghanistan

More than 200,000 people are expected to attend the Los Angeles Dodgers' victory parade on Monday after they won the World Series over the weekend. The Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in 11 innings in Game 7 to become the first team in 25 years to win back-to-back World Series.

Los Angeles

Dodgers to hold championship parade after World Series victory

A 32-year-old man suspected of carrying out a bloody stabbing on a United Kingdom train is facing at least 10 criminal charges. CBS News' Ramy Inocencio has the latest.

London

UK train stabbing spree suspect faces attempted murder charges

Hamas handed over bodies of three hostages on Sunday (November 2), even as the Palestinian militant group traded blame with Israel for violations of the tenuous truce that has mostly halted two years of war.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Hamas hands over three more hostage bodies amid fragile ceasefire

Israel has threatened to increase attacks on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon if the Lebanese government doesn't disarm the militant group, despite a ceasefire.

Israel warns of intensified strikes on Hezbollah if disarmament fails

U.S President Donald Trump has long promised to build a ballroom on the White House campus.
He originally said it wouldn’t touch the existing structure. But after just four days, the East Wing is gone. Torn down to make way for a much bigger ballroom than originally planned.

Trump’s $300m White House ballroom project sparks controversy

Two more suspects, a man and a woman arrested this week over the jewel heist at the Louvre, have been charged and remanded in custody, prosecutors have said. The charges on Saturday brought the number of people now charged over the spectacular robbery to four.

Paris

Two more charged over Louvre jewelry heist

British police say eleven people were injured, most of them seriously, in a mass stabbing on a London-bound train Saturday evening. Authorities have arrested two British-born men and are investigating their motive in the incident.

UK police rule out terrorism after mass stabbing on train

Egypt has officially opened the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the world's largest museum dedicated to an ancient civilization. The new museum features tens of thousands of artifacts, including the full collection from King Tutankhamen's tomb.

Cairo

Grand Egyptian Museum opens after two decades of construction

Voters in New York, New Jersey, Virginia and California have already hit the polls for early voting before election day on Nov. 4. CBS News producer Jared Ochacher is following the New York City mayoral race.

New York

Mamdani commands double-digit lead over opponents in NYC mayoral race

The two-day APEC summit in South Korea has wrapped up with President Lee Jae Myung handing over hosting duties to China. Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced the southern city of Shenzhen as the site for next year's summit.

Seoul

Rise of AI

Global Tariffs

APEC summit ends, Trump and Xi reach truce in trade war

When a US aircraft carrier arrives in the Caribbean next week, there will be 14,500 American troops in and around Puerto Rico. The Trump administration says it's aimed at curbing drug trafficking. But many fear something much bigger to come.

San Juan

Fears of conflict in Caribbean amid U.S military build-up

The coastal town of Black River, described by the Jamaican government as Hurricane Melissa's "ground zero," lies devastated after one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record tore through the island, claiming at least 19 lives and leaving a trail of unprecedented destruction.

Black River

Jamaica reels from catastrophic hurricane Melissa

FBI Director Kash Patel announced an operation that apparently "thwarted a potential terrorist attack" during Halloween weekend in Michigan. CBS News' Scott MacFarlane has more.

Dearborn

Patel says FBI stopped a potential "terror attack" in Michigan

Washington and Beijing are "in agreement on many things," U.S. President Donald Trump said after the face-to-face meeting that lasted nearly two hours, the first between both leaders in six years.

Breakdown