Time-of-Use Power Pricing & Time-Varying Solar Buy-Back Start 1 July 2026: What It Means for NZ Solar Owners

On 1 July 2026 — a few days from now — the last of this year's big solar reforms comes into force. From that date, every large electricity retailer in New Zealand has to offer a time-of-use power plan and a time-varying buy-back rate for solar and battery owners. If you've seen headlines saying retailers are now "forced" to pay you more for your exports, the reality is more useful and a bit less dramatic. Here's exactly what changes, what doesn't, and what to do about it this week.

At a Glance

• From 1 July 2026, retailers with 5% or more of the market (covering roughly 83% of NZ households) must offer at least one time-of-use plan with cheaper off-peak rates, and at least one time-varying buy-back rate for power you export.
• It's an "offer," not a switch. Nobody gets moved onto these plans automatically, and the rule doesn't set a fixed price. You have to opt in — and check it's actually better for your household first.
• The real winner is storage. Rooftop solar doesn't generate during the 5–9pm winter peak when export prices are highest. To capture a peak buy-back rate, you need a battery (or, eventually, a vehicle-to-grid EV) to shift exports into the evening.
• Current flat buy-back rates run ~7c to ~23c/kWh depending on retailer. Time-varying peak rates could reach 30–40c/kWh on high-demand winter evenings — but only for the kilowatt-hours you can actually export at that time.
• This is the third of three 2026 reforms. We covered the 10kW export limit and the full three-reform picture here; this article goes deep on the 1 July retailer rule.

What actually changes on 1 July 2026

The Electricity Authority's new rules place two obligations on large retailers — the big names like Contact, Genesis, Mercury and Meridian, plus any other retailer with at least 5% of the residential market.

1. They must offer at least one time-of-use plan. A time-of-use (ToU) plan charges you different rates depending on when you use power, instead of one flat rate around the clock. Off-peak power — typically overnight and in the middle of the day — gets cheaper. Peak power (roughly 7–9am and 5–9pm in winter) costs more. This is the import side: what you pay to draw power from the grid.

2. They must offer at least one time-varying buy-back rate. Instead of paying a flat rate for everything you export, a time-varying buy-back pays you based on when you send power back. Export at the evening peak, when the grid is straining and power is genuinely valuable, and you get paid more. Export at noon in December, when the whole country's panels are flooding the grid, and you get paid less. This is the export side.

The retailers also have to actually promote these plans — display them on their websites, list them on switching sites like Powerswitch, and proactively point them out to customers who'd benefit. So you shouldn't have to dig.

The "mandate" myth worth ignoring

A lot of the coverage right now is reporting this as retailers being "forced to pay fair rates" or a "mandatory" shift to time-of-use pricing. That's not quite what the rule says, and the difference matters for your wallet.

The rule requires retailers to offer these plans. It does not:

• Move you onto a time-of-use plan automatically. If you do nothing, you stay on whatever plan you're on now.
• Set a minimum buy-back price. The Authority isn't dictating "you must be paid 30c at peak." It's requiring the structure — a rate that varies with time — to exist and be available.
• Guarantee you'll be better off. A time-of-use plan only saves money if your household can actually shift usage to off-peak. A time-varying buy-back only earns more if you can actually export at peak.

In other words, 1 July creates the option, not the outcome. The homeowners who benefit are the ones who look at the new plans, run their own numbers, and switch on purpose. The ones who assume it happens automatically will see no change at all.

Why this rewards batteries, not just panels

Here's the catch that most of the excited headlines skip over.

The whole point of a time-varying buy-back is to pay you more for exporting when power is scarce — and in a New Zealand winter, that's the evening peak, roughly 5–9pm. People are home, heat pumps are running, dinner's cooking, and the sun set hours ago.

That last part is the problem. Your solar panels generate nothing at 7pm in July. All your generation happens during the day, when export prices under a time-varying plan are at their lowest. So a plain grid-tied solar system — panels and an inverter, no storage — can't actually reach the high peak rates these new plans are built around. You'd be exporting your surplus at midday for a low time-varying rate, which could even work out worse than a good flat rate.

To capture the peak export price, you need to store your daytime solar and release it in the evening. That means a battery. A household that banks, say, 3–5 kWh of cheap daytime solar and exports it into the 5–9pm window at 30–40c/kWh — instead of a flat 12c — starts to see real money: an extra $150–$300 a year, on top of the bill savings from using stored solar at night instead of buying peak power.

This is exactly why the 2026 reforms shift the battery maths. We ran the standalone numbers in our solar batteries piece for winter 2026, and the honest answer there was "still a long payback." But that analysis pre-dates the time-varying plans actually landing. Once you can sell stored energy into a paid evening-peak window, a battery stops being purely a backup-power luxury and starts earning its keep. It's still not an instant winner for every home — but the gap is closing.

Current buy-back rates: what you're working with today

Until the new time-varying plans are published and you can compare them properly, it helps to know where flat buy-back rates sit in mid-2026. They vary enormously between retailers:

Rates change often and are bundled with different daily charges and import prices — always compare the whole plan, not just the buy-back number.

A few things jump out. First, the spread is huge — the best flat rate is roughly three times the worst. Second, several retailers have already moved to time-of-use-style buy-backs (note the "peak" and "off-peak" splits above) ahead of the 1 July deadline. The reform is formalising a direction the market was already heading.

The key trap: the highest buy-back rate isn't automatically the best deal. A retailer paying 23c for exports but charging you a high import rate and daily fixed charge can leave you worse off overall than one paying 12c with cheap import pricing. Because most NZ households still buy far more power than they export, your import rate usually matters more than your buy-back rate. Run the full comparison — the free Powerswitch tool and our own savings calculator both help here.

What if you don't have solar at all?

The time-of-use import side of this reform affects every household, not just solar owners — and with winter bills biting (some Rotorua households have already topped $600 a month before the worst of winter, and roughly a quarter of NZ households are now struggling with power costs), it's worth understanding.

A time-of-use plan rewards you for moving flexible loads off the peak. If you can run these overnight or in the cheap midday window, you can cut your bill without spending a cent on hardware:

• Hot water: Put your cylinder on a timer to heat off-peak. This is the single biggest flexible load in most homes.
• Dishwasher and washing machine: Run them on a delay-start overnight.
• EV charging: If you've got an electric car, charging off-peak overnight is where time-of-use plans pay off hardest. (We compared the cheapest EV charging plans for winter 2026 here.)

If your household is mostly out during the day and home in the evening — the classic working family — a naive switch to time-of-use can actually cost you more, because you're consuming during the expensive peak. The plans aren't a free win; they're a tool for households that can shift load. Check before you switch.

What existing solar owners should do

If you already have solar, 1 July is a prompt to review, not a reason to panic. Your current plan keeps running until you change it.

1. Find your current buy-back rate. Check your latest power bill or your retailer's app. Compare it against the table above.
2. Wait for the new plans to drop, then compare. The big retailers are expected to launch their time-varying "smart export" or "peak solar" plans through late June and July. Don't switch blind — wait until you can see the actual numbers.
3. Be honest about whether you can export at peak. Without a battery, a time-varying plan may pay you less for your midday surplus. If you're a panels-only household, a strong flat rate might still be your best option. Don't switch to a time-varying plan just because it's new.
4. If you have a battery (or a hybrid inverter that's battery-ready), the time-varying plans are aimed squarely at you. Set your battery to charge on daytime solar and discharge into the evening peak, and these plans can genuinely lift your annual return.
5. Mind your contract. If you're locked into a fixed-term plan, check whether switching triggers a break fee before the new plans are even out.

What to do if you're shopping for solar right now

If you're getting quotes in mid-2026, the reforms change how you should spec the system:

• Seriously cost a battery — or at least make the system battery-ready. With time-varying buy-backs arriving, a hybrid inverter (which can take a battery now or later) is the single most future-proof choice. Retrofitting a hybrid inverter down the track is far more expensive than fitting one up front.
• Don't over-size panels purely for export. Under time-varying rates, exporting a big midday surplus may earn little. The value is increasingly in self-consumption and timed evening export — both of which point at storage, not more panels.
• Ask installers how they're sizing for the 2026 rules. A good installer should already be talking about hybrid inverters, the 10kW export limit, and the new retailer plans. If a quote still assumes a flat 12c buy-back and a 5kW cap, it's out of date — ask for it to be redone.

For the fundamentals — system sizing, panel and inverter brands, and how payback actually works — start with our complete solar panels guide and our realistic 2026 payback numbers. When you're ready for quotes, find verified solar installers in your area and ask each one how they'd set you up to benefit from the new plans.

The companion reform already in force

The 1 July retailer rule doesn't stand alone. Earlier this year, lines companies (the network operators — Vector, Orion, Powerco and the rest) became obliged to pay small-scale exporters extra for the power they push onto the network at peak demand times. That's the wholesale layer; the 1 July retailer plans are how it shows up on a bill you can actually sign up to. Together with the 10kW export limit that lifted in May, these are the three reforms reshaping NZ solar economics in 2026 — and 1 July is the one that finally reaches ordinary homeowners' plans.

The honest takeaway

1 July 2026 is a genuinely good change, but it's an opportunity, not a windfall. The headlines calling it a "mandate" are overselling it: the rule makes retailers offer time-of-use and time-varying plans, not pay everyone more automatically. Nothing lands in your account unless you go and choose the right plan.

For panels-only households, the move is to compare the new plans carefully once they're out — and not assume a time-varying buy-back beats a strong flat rate when you can't export at peak. For households with a battery, or anyone weighing one up, this is the reform that finally puts a paid signal on stored evening export, and it tilts the battery maths in a way it hasn't been before.

The smartest thing you can do this week is a five-minute audit: find your current buy-back rate, note whether you can shift any load off-peak, and decide whether a battery is now worth costing. Then, when your retailer's new plans appear in July, you'll be ready to act — instead of watching the opportunity export itself away at midday for 8 cents.

Next step: Run your own numbers in our savings calculator, and if you're considering adding storage or a new system, get quotes from verified solar installers who can set you up to make the most of the 1 July plans.