this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2026
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Many Australians can get three free hours of power from today. (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 1 month ago by Kind_to_Everyone@slrpnk.net to c/solarpunk@slrpnk.net
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[–] Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Yes, but:

It is not unlimited. A daily cap of 24kWh applies; the Australian Energy Regulator says that is equivalent to a day’s usage for a five-person household. Any use above that amount will be charged.

Would be a perfect time to charge your car, then put the rest of your 24kWh into a battery.

[–] beeng@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

... If you're at home with your car. Otherwise easy 24kW of Bitcoin mining.

[–] rbos@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

For one hour.

[–] Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Up to 3 hours, would need an ~8kW mining rig to fully utilize, which is gonna be beefy.

[–] rbos@lemmy.ca -1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

24 kW for one hour is 24 kilowatt-hours, which is the limit. "beeng" above specified "24kW of Bitcoin mining".

[–] Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip 3 points 1 month ago

Sorry, missed they dropped the h. My guess is typo, even a 8kW mining rig would look pretty comical in a home, 24 kW is just silly (and would require multiple dedicated circuits in a home?). And if you can only run it for even 3h/day, it'll probably take aeons to pay for itself.

Maybe worth spinning up your otherwise idle 1kW-ish computer or underutilized home server to do some free mining, but I wouldn't invest a ton of money in something that'll be dormant for 21h/day.

[–] julianwgs@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So you could buy a 24 kWh battery (still somewhat expensive) and essentially never pay for electricity again?

[–] Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip 3 points 1 month ago

  1. Australian utilities have fixed daily charges for connectivity. You would still need to pay that.

  2. I may have missed it in the article, but I'm willing to wager this "free" tier is somewhat seasonal or weather dependent.

  3. Depending on how much you drive, run your AC, and what appliances are electric, this may not be enough. My all electric home uses closer to 40 kWh/d