Updated on April 8, 2026
When you send your extra solar power to the grid, your retailer pays you very little for it, then sells that same energy to your neighbours at full price.
Retailers keep the profit, and you only get a few cents. As feed-in tariffs in NSW fall, some households are even being charged to export their power.
It’s understandable to feel frustrated. You chose solar to take control of your energy, but your retailer is still coming out ahead.
At PSC Energy, we’ve installed solar systems across New South Wales for ten years. We’ve seen feed-in tariffs drop from $0.60 per kilowatt hour to less than $0.05. We understand how the system works, and we want to introduce you to a company that does things differently: Amber Energy.
In this article, you will learn about the following:
- Why traditional energy retailers are failing solar households in NSW.
- What Amber is and how its model works.
- How Amber can turn your battery into a source of real earnings.
- Whether Amber is right for your setup.
- Honest answers to the questions you are probably already asking.
By the end of this article, you’ll know what Amber is and whether you want to investigate it further. Let’s get into it.
Why Traditional Energy Retailers Are Failing Solar Households in NSW
The core problem comes down to the feed-in tariff: the rate your retailer pays you for the excess solar power you send to the grid.
In New South Wales, those rates have collapsed. Households that once paid $0.20 or $0.30 per kilowatt-hour now pay less than $0.05 in many cases. Some receive nothing. And in the most frustrating scenarios, some solar users are being charged to export their excess solar power.
Your retailer does not just accept your solar and leave it there. Here is the cycle:
- Your panels generate more power than your home needs during the day.
- Your retailer buys that excess at the feed-in tariff rate, often less than $0.05 per kilowatt hour.
- Your retailer sells that same energy to other households at the standard retail rate, which in NSW typically sits between $0.35 and $0.45 per kilowatt hour.
- When wholesale prices spike on hot evenings, your retailer has already locked in their rates months in advance. They profit from the spike. You do not.
You pay a retail price when you buy power. You receive a fraction of that when you sell it. The gap between those two numbers is your retailer’s profit.
This is also why headlines about the “sun tax” have started appearing. In some parts of NSW, network operators have begun charging solar households to export during certain hours because the grid cannot absorb the volume of solar being pushed into it at midday.
This is likely to become more common as solar adoption grows.
You invested thousands of dollars to produce clean energy, but your retailer benefits more than you do. Amber was created to fix this problem.
If you’re interested in learning a bit more about budget plans for electricity, you might want to check out the following article titled, 10 Cheapest Electricity Providers in Sydney.
What is the Amber Energy VPP?
Amber is an Australian energy retailer, but it operates very differently from the ones you might know.
What is the Wholesale Energy Market?
Every time you use electricity, it is bought and sold on the wholesale energy market. This is where electricity is traded in real time between generators and retailers.
Wholesale prices change every 30 minutes based on supply and demand:
- On a sunny spring afternoon in NSW, when solar farms flood the grid, and households use little power, wholesale prices can drop close to zero or go negative.
- On a hot summer evening, when air conditioners switch on and solar generation drops off, wholesale prices can spike to ten or fifteen times the average rate.
- Traditional retailers buy at wholesale prices but charge you a fixed retail rate regardless of what the market is doing.
- When prices are low, they keep the difference. When prices spike, they are protected by rates locked in months earlier.
No matter what, traditional retailers benefit. Amber gets rid of that extra markup.
How Does Amber Energy’s Model Work?
Amber charges a flat $25 monthly subscription fee. That’s their only profit. They don’t make money from how much electricity you use or your daily supply charge.
In return, you get direct access to the real-time wholesale price. Here is what that means:
- When wholesale prices are low, you pay low prices.
- When you export energy to the grid, you receive the real-time wholesale feed-in tariff, not the flat discounted rate your current retailer pays you.
- That wholesale feed-in rate can reach up to $19 per kilowatt hour during price spikes, compared to the $0.05 or less most NSW retailers currently pay you.
Amber is available in New South Wales, and every customer gets wholesale access right from the start. There are no special plans or complicated steps.
Is This Exposing You to Risk?
That’s a fair question. Two things help limit your risk.
- First, if you have solar and a battery, your system powers your home before you need to buy from the grid, so you use less power when prices are high.
- Second, Amber has a safety net: if prices spike too much, Amber automatically switches you to capped rates to avoid bill shock.
Amber’s bill guarantee works by capping your average quarterly rate. If the wholesale-based bills would exceed this cap, Amber automatically credits you the difference, so you pay no more than the capped rate specified for your network.
You can see the exact cap for your network in the Amber app, so you always know the highest rate you might pay.
The cap is based on your specific network in NSW and is visible in the settings section of the Amber app.
If you’re interested in learning a bit more about feed-in tariffs, you might want to check out the following article titled, Understanding Feed-In Tariffs and Their Limitations.
How Amber Energy Uses SmartShift to Turn Your Battery into a Revenue Stream
If you have a home battery, you might see it as backup power; charging during the day and running your house at night. But it could also be earning you more money.
Amber has a feature called SmartShift that changes what your battery can do. Instead of following a fixed routine, SmartShift monitors the wholesale market every 5 minutes and automates your battery based on real-time prices.
- When wholesale prices are low, typically midday when solar generation is high, SmartShift charges your battery from your solar panels first, and from the grid if the price is low enough.
- When wholesale prices spike, usually early evening when solar drops off and demand surges, SmartShift discharges your battery and sends stored energy back to the grid.
- At those peak times, the wholesale feed-in tariff your battery earns can be ten to twenty times higher than a standard flat feed-in rate.
- SmartShift checks prices every five minutes, so it always responds to what the market is doing right now.
This means your battery makes money when prices are highest and charges when it’s cheapest.
Letting an automated system control your battery can feel uneasy. But with Amber, you don’t have to give up full control:
- Let SmartShift run on its own for a set-and-forget approach.
- Pause automation and take manual control at any time. If a storm is coming and you want to preserve your battery charge for backup, switch to manual mode in the app with a single tap.
- Customise your priorities. Power your home first and trade only what is left over, or let the market drive decisions entirely.
- Monitor everything in the app: real-time wholesale prices, a twelve-hour price forecast, and a live view of your battery’s charge and discharge activity.
What This Means
- Your solar reduces what you buy from the grid during the day.
- Your battery, without Amber, reduces what you buy at night.
- With Amber and SmartShift, your battery also earns a wholesale feed-in tariff during evening price spikes.
- Real Amber customers have reported earning hundreds of dollars per year, with some earning over $1,000 annually from their battery alone.
These numbers depend on the market, your battery size, and your setup. They aren’t guaranteed, but they show a real advantage over standard retailers.
If you’re interested in learning a bit more about VPPs, you might want to check out the following article titled, What is a Virtual Power Plant (VPP)?
Is Amber Energy Right for You?
Amber isn’t the best choice for every solar household. Here’s a simple breakdown of who it suits and who it doesn’t.
You Are a Good Fit for Amber Energy If:
- You have a battery with at least 10 kWh of usable capacity, giving you enough storage to power your home and still trade with the grid.
- Your battery and inverter are compatible with SmartShift. Amber needs to control both to automate charging and discharging. Check the compatibility list on the Amber website before you sign up.
- You use a reasonable amount of electricity during the day and can shift usage to low-price windows.
- You are comfortable with variable pricing. You do not need to watch the market yourself, but you do need to be comfortable with a rate that moves. The bill guarantee provides a ceiling.
- You have a smart meter or are happy to have one installed.
Amber Energy May Not Be the Right Fit If:
- Your battery is small. A 5-6 kWh battery may not leave enough capacity to trade after powering your home through the night.
- Your inverter is not compatible with SmartShift. Without automation, you lose the feature that drives the most financial upside. You can still access wholesale pricing manually through the app, but the earnings potential drops significantly.
- Your energy use is low or concentrated at night. If your household draws little power during the day and your battery has little to store or shift, wholesale pricing offers limited advantage over a standard retail plan.
- You want a fixed, predictable bill. The bill guarantee protects you from paying well above the default market offer, but your bill will not be the same every quarter.
- You are not interested in active energy management. If you want a fully passive setup, much of what Amber offers will go unused.
Not all battery and inverter brands work with SmartShift. Amber has a compatibility list on their website, so check it before signing up.
If your system isn’t supported yet, Amber may add it in the future as they expand their device list, but there’s no set timeline for any brand or model.
If you’re interested in learning a bit more about how to save with solar, you might want to check out the following article titled, Self-Consumption: How to Increase Solar Energy Use.
Final Thoughts: Caught Between Red and Green? Go Amber
You chose solar to take charge of your energy. If you’re still on a standard retail plan, your retailer is still in control. They buy your solar power for cents, sell it for more, and keep the profit each quarter.
Amber changes how that works.
At PSC Energy, we’ve spent ten years installing solar systems across New South Wales. We don’t have any commercial ties to Amber. We recommend them because we believe they offer something truly different in a market that hasn’t changed enough.
If you’re interested in learning a bit more about the VPP portion of the battery rebate, you might want to check out the following article titled, NSW Battery VPP Rebate Explained: What You Need to Know.
Click here for a free solar quote.
FAQ: Amber Energy Australia
What is Amber Energy, and how does it work?
Amber is an Australian energy retailer that gives you direct access to wholesale electricity prices rather than charging a standard retail rate. Rather than charging for every kilowatt-hour you use, Amber charges a flat $25 monthly subscription fee. You pay the real wholesale price for the electricity you buy and receive the real wholesale feed-in tariff for the energy you export. Wholesale prices change every 30 minutes based on supply and demand in the grid, so what you pay and earn moves with the market.
What is the Amber Energy app, and what can it do?
The Amber app is where you manage your entire account. It shows you live wholesale electricity prices, a twelve-hour price forecast, and real-time data on your solar and battery activity. You can use it to set price alerts, monitor your usage and earnings, customise how SmartShift controls your battery, or switch to manual mode at any time. If you like data, the app gives you a detailed breakdown of everything your system is doing.
What is SmartShift, and how does it help solar battery owners?
SmartShift is Amber’s battery automation technology. It connects to your home battery and solar inverter and monitors wholesale electricity prices every five minutes. When prices are low, it charges your battery. When prices spike, it discharges your battery and exports that stored energy to the grid at the higher wholesale feed-in tariff. The whole process runs automatically in the background. You can pause it, take manual control, or customise how it prioritises your household versus grid trading at any time through the app.
Is Amber Energy available in NSW?
Yes. Amber Energy is available in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, the ACT, and southeast Queensland. When you sign up, your pricing and bill guarantee rates are based on your specific network distributor within NSW, which you can find in the settings section of the Amber app.
What is the Amber Energy bill guarantee?
The Amber bill guarantee is a built-in safety net that protects you from paying significantly more than the standard market rate. Amber guarantees that, on average, you will never pay more than the applicable bill guarantee rate for your wholesale electricity usage in any quarter. If your costs exceed that rate, Amber automatically credits you the difference. The specific rate depends on your network distributor in NSW and is updated each quarter.
How much can I earn with Amber Energy and a solar battery?
Your earnings depend on your battery size, inverter compatibility, household energy use, and wholesale market conditions. Amber customers with compatible solar battery systems have reported earning hundreds of dollars per year, with some earning over $1,000 annually through SmartShift alone. These figures are not guaranteed, but they reflect real customer outcomes driven by the gap between low wholesale charging prices and high wholesale feed-in tariffs during evening price spikes.
Is Amber Energy worth it without a battery?
Amber can still offer value without a battery, but the upside is smaller. Without a battery, you cannot trade stored energy during price spikes, which is where the biggest financial gains come from. You can still benefit from low wholesale prices during the day by shifting your usage, such as running your dishwasher or washing machine when solar is strong and prices are low. If you are considering adding a battery in the future, making sure it is SmartShift-compatible is worth considering.
How does Amber Energy compare to traditional energy retailers in NSW?
Traditional NSW energy retailers buy wholesale electricity and sell it to you at a marked-up fixed rate. They profit from the difference between what they pay for power and what they charge you. Amber removes that markup entirely. You pay the wholesale rate plus a flat $25 monthly subscription fee, and you export your solar and battery energy at the wholesale feed-in tariff rather than the discounted flat rate most retailers offer. The trade-off is that your bill is variable rather than fixed, though the bill guarantee provides a quarterly ceiling on your wholesale usage costs.
