GloBird FOUR4FREE Review: Making the Most of Four Free Hours Each Day

There is something appealing about an electricity plan that gives you a clear opportunity to change the bill. Instead of trying to decode a discount headline, you can look at your day and ask a practical question: what could we move into four free hours?

GloBird Energy’s FOUR4FREE plan makes that question the centre of its appeal. The current offer for new customers advertises free electricity usage on eligible standard circuits between 11am and 3pm each day. For households with flexible laundry routines, daytime air conditioning or an electric vehicle at home, that window deserves a closer look.

The useful part is its everyday rhythm. Four hours is long enough to organise several ordinary tasks without turning the house into an energy project. A dishwasher can run while lunch is being prepared, washing can finish before school pickup, and compatible charging can happen while someone works from home. The opportunity comes from moving necessary consumption, rather than finding extra things to switch on.

This is a research-based review, checked on 11 October 2026; we have not personally used the plan or tested household savings. Quotes and eligibility depend on the property. This article contains a referral link, and the referrer may also receive a credit if the referral qualifies. You can explore current offers through the TrolleySaver GloBird store page.

Our verdict: a promising plan for households with daytime flexibility

FOUR4FREE has a strong, understandable benefit: eligible electricity used within the free window attracts a zero usage rate. Its best fit is a household that can regularly move meaningful grid consumption into that period while keeping the rest of its bill competitive.

That makes it especially interesting for people who are home during the day, can use appliance delay settings, or have charging equipment with suitable scheduling. You do not need to reshape every hour of your life to find value. A repeatable routine can be more useful than an ambitious schedule that lasts only a week.

The deciding factor is the complete quote. Daily supply charges, paid usage outside the window and any separately charged circuits still matter. Our positive assessment is of the plan’s practical design; the cheapest choice for a particular address must be established using that household’s usage and actual rates.

Start your comparison with GloBird Energy through this referral route. It opens GloBird’s quote process; confirm that FOUR4FREE is available at your address and that the referral credit applies to your selected offer before completing the application.

Sign up for $50 credit via this link

The $50 referral credit is conditional, not an immediate cash payment. Eligible new customers must pay their first invoice by its due date; the credit appears on the following invoice. Some plans are excluded, so confirm FOUR4FREE eligibility with GloBird. The referrer can also receive $50. Other referral conditions apply.

What FOUR4FREE actually offers

The plan combines a daily free period with paid electricity at other times. It is available to eligible residential customers in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia who have a suitable smart meter and meet GloBird’s normal account requirements.

The current advertised window for customers joining from 1 July 2026 is 11am to 3pm local time. Earlier FOUR4FREE customers may have different hours. Your welcome pack and property-specific plan documents are the details to use when programming appliances, particularly if you have seen older material mentioning another window.

This structure rewards timing. It does not make the whole account free for four hours in every possible sense, and it does not remove the cost of remaining connected. Thinking in terms of eligible metered usage makes the offer much easier to understand and compare.

Why the four-hour window is useful

A useful free period needs to match activities that people can realistically move. Midday has an advantage here: it sits between the morning rush and the busiest part of the evening. For many homes, that creates room for tasks that otherwise happen after dinner simply because that is the usual habit.

Four hours also gives some breathing space. You can plan a washing cycle without needing it to finish at a single precise moment, or run a dishwasher and then deal with another task. You still need to understand the cycle length, but a broader window can make the routine feel less restrictive.

It helps to think of the window as a place for work already on your list. Washing clothes, charging a vehicle and preparing food have a purpose beyond the tariff. The benefit is strongest when you bring that work forward or delay it slightly while leaving overall consumption sensible.

There is also an organisational benefit. A household can agree on one shared rule: suitable flexible tasks happen around lunchtime. That is often easier to remember than several changing time bands. A clear routine gives everyone a chance to contribute without checking an app before every appliance use.

Of course, the routine must suit the household. Shift workers, retirees and people working from home may find it natural. Families away all day can still investigate built-in timers, but should be honest about what will actually run safely and reliably while nobody is home.

Start with your bill, then look at your day

The most helpful first step is to collect a recent bill and, if available, your smart-meter interval data. The bill shows total consumption and charges. The interval data shows when electricity is imported, which is particularly valuable for a plan built around a daily window.

Look at several representative weeks rather than one unusually quiet day. A weekend with everyone home may look attractive, while a normal working week tells a different story. Include a period when heating or cooling is used if those appliances account for a substantial part of your consumption.

Separate consumption you can move from consumption you simply need at its current time. The fridge runs throughout the day. Dinner often happens in the evening. A laundry cycle may be flexible. These differences determine how much of the free window you can use without making life inconvenient.

Make a modest estimate first. If the plan looks worthwhile with a realistic routine, that is a stronger result than a comparison which assumes every flexible task moves perfectly every day. Holidays, visitors, illness and busy afternoons all interrupt even well organised households.

It can be useful to write two versions of the comparison: your present routine and a practical revised routine. That reveals whether the plan already suits your usage or whether its value depends on changes. You can then decide whether those changes are easy enough to maintain.

The full-bill comparison that matters

Compare FOUR4FREE with your existing plan over the same number of days and the same underlying household needs. For the new plan, divide eligible imported electricity between free and paid periods. Apply each quoted paid rate to the correct consumption, then add supply charges and any other applicable components.

If you have controlled load, calculate that separately. If you export solar electricity, include the relevant feed-in credits. If the quote lists demand charges or another additional component, understand its calculation before making a decision. A zero rate in one column does not settle the whole comparison.

The following figures are invented illustrations in Australian dollars, with GST assumed included. They are not GloBird rates, current offers or forecasts. Both examples assume ten kilowatt-hours of daily standard-circuit grid usage, with no solar exports, controlled load, demand charges or other fees.

The first free-window scenario costs fifty cents less that day. The second costs seventy cents more. The difference is the amount of eligible usage captured during the free period. This is why a household’s timing matters as much as the headline benefit.

Using those same invented rates, more than 2.75 kWh of the ten daily kilowatt-hours would need to fall within the free window to beat the illustrated existing plan. That threshold changes when any rate, supply charge or usage assumption changes. Your own quote needs its own calculation.

Keep introductory credits separate from ongoing costs. A qualifying $50 referral credit can improve the first year, but it does not repeat every month. Compare the ongoing bill first, then show the one-off benefit as a separate adjustment so the longer-term value stays clear.

Laundry and dishes: useful everyday starting points

Laundry is a sensible place to begin because the task often has some flexibility. A built-in delay-start function may let a washing machine run within the free period. Check whether the setting means a delayed start or a delayed finish, since different machines describe this differently.

The whole cycle matters. Starting a long programme just before 3pm will not put its remaining electricity into the free period. Check the approximate duration, allow a buffer, and choose the programme that suits the load. The tariff should support good washing habits rather than encourage unnecessary cycles.

A dishwasher can be another straightforward candidate. Loading it after breakfast and setting an appropriate midday cycle may be more convenient than waiting until bedtime. Again, check the appliance instructions, programme duration and whether the machine is suitable for the intended unattended operation.

Dryers deserve a considered approach. Running an already necessary load during the free period could reduce eligible usage charges, but line drying may still suit the weather and clothing better. Filters, ventilation and care instructions remain important regardless of when electricity is priced at zero.

Build the routine around a manageable number of tasks. You do not have to run everything simultaneously. Staggering appliances can make it easier to unload them, avoid household bottlenecks and respect electrical capacity. Use built-in controls where possible and seek qualified advice before altering wiring or high-load equipment.

Heating, cooling and a more comfortable afternoon

Homes occupied during the day may find the free window useful for heating or cooling that they would already need. A person working from home can compare how much of their normal comfort usage falls between 11am and 3pm, rather than assuming all climate-control consumption is movable.

Some households may also investigate modest pre-cooling or pre-heating before the paid period. Whether that is worthwhile depends on insulation, weather, the building and the equipment. A well sealed room retains comfort differently from a draughty space, so an identical schedule will not suit every property.

There is no need to chase an extreme temperature. Sensible settings, appropriate zoning and closed doors can make a routine more practical. The aim is comfortable living with a better timed pattern, not turning the house into a storage device at the expense of comfort.

Track the result across the whole day. If extra midday cooling is followed by the same evening usage as before, it may have changed consumption without reducing paid energy. If it replaces some later operation, the plan could be doing useful work for the household.

Comfort needs also take priority over tariff optimisation. Children, older people, pets and anyone with particular needs may require heating or cooling outside the window. Include that unavoidable paid usage in the comparison; a good plan should fit the household rather than make essential comfort difficult.

Electric vehicles: an attractive opportunity when the car is home

An electric vehicle can make the midday window particularly interesting because charging is often a substantial, schedulable load. The important qualification is availability. A car parked at work throughout the free period cannot capture that opportunity at home on those days.

For someone working from home or returning around lunchtime, a compatible charging schedule may align well. Check both the vehicle and charger settings, since overlapping schedules can produce unexpected results. Confirm the applicable circuit treatment and use equipment installed and operated according to its requirements.

Charging power determines how much energy can be delivered during the window. As a simple arithmetic illustration, a device drawing a steady three kilowatts for one hour uses three kilowatt-hours. Real charging can vary with equipment, vehicle settings, battery condition and other household loads.

That makes it worth comparing the free period with your actual weekly driving needs. A modest commute may be easier to cover through several midday sessions than a household that regularly returns home late with a heavily depleted battery. The plan should match the car’s routine as well as the owner’s.

Keep a paid charging contingency. Travel, unexpected errands and busy workdays will sometimes require charging at another time. Compare the likely total cost with an overnight EV offer and a standard electricity plan, including the rest of the home’s consumption in every case.

Solar households: focus on imported energy

Solar changes the calculation because electricity generated and used directly at home is different from electricity imported through the meter. If panels already cover your midday demand, you may have less eligible grid usage in the free window than a household without solar.

This does not automatically rule out FOUR4FREE. Cloudy days, larger loads and changing seasons can leave imported usage during daylight hours. However, the comparison should use the amount actually bought from the grid, rather than treating all electricity consumed by appliances as billable imports.

Feed-in tariffs matter too. Compare the credit for exports alongside the paid import rates and supply charge. A household exporting substantial energy may reach a different conclusion from a home with little surplus, even if both can move the washing machine to lunchtime.

A useful exercise is to inspect a sunny week and a cloudy week. That gives a more balanced picture of imported consumption and exports. If you have only recently installed solar, use conservative assumptions until enough actual data is available to make the estimate dependable.

Avoid changing inverter or export settings merely to chase a tariff headline. Ask an appropriately qualified installer about technical settings, and keep the financial comparison separate from equipment configuration. FOUR4FREE can be assessed first without buying hardware or making changes to the installation.

Battery owners: compare the whole charging cycle

A home battery may offer another way to shift consumption, provided the equipment supports suitable grid charging and the arrangement is compatible with the plan. The published residential eligibility criteria do not require a battery; it is an optional household circumstance to investigate.

The useful calculation includes charging losses, usable capacity and the timing of discharge. Energy taken from the grid to charge a battery is not all delivered back to appliances later. A battery also has operating limits and warranty conditions that should guide any scheduling decision.

Ask the installer or manufacturer which controls are available and what settings are appropriate. Confirm the tariff treatment of the relevant circuit with GloBird. If you participate in another battery programme, check whether its requirements conflict with the routine you are considering.

FOUR4FREE should be reviewed on its own terms. Do not assume it includes the rewards, export incentives or participation arrangements advertised for a different GloBird battery plan. Comparing separate offers carefully helps avoid assigning one plan’s benefits to another.

There is no need to buy a battery solely because a free window exists. A hardware purchase introduces a much larger calculation involving installation cost, longevity and future tariffs. First establish whether the electricity offer suits the equipment and household you already have.

Controlled load, time bands and the details worth checking

Controlled load is one of the most important details in this review. If an appliance uses an excluded circuit, moving its operating time into the advertised free window does not make that circuit’s usage free. Check the meter and quote rather than judging by the appliance’s name.

Hot water is a common item to investigate, but the actual connection determines the treatment. Ask which register records the equipment and how that register will be charged. Do not assume a timer or smart control changes the billing category of the circuit.

Paid time bands also need attention. The promotional page describes free hours and paid hours, while the plan terms note that some meter arrangements can show shoulder components. Your property-specific document should settle the rates and periods that apply to your account.

Daylight saving introduces another scheduling detail. GloBird notes that time bands may temporarily differ around clock changes. Check the welcome pack and seek clarification about the exact transition treatment before relying on a timer set right at the boundary.

A buffer is useful for ordinary scheduling. Planning a task comfortably within confirmed hours reduces reliance on a perfect start, an exact cycle duration or a last-minute clock adjustment. It also makes the routine easier for another household member to follow.

How to build a routine that lasts

Start with two flexible tasks and make the schedule easy to remember. For example, arrange suitable washing and dishwashing programmes during the confirmed free period on days when they are needed. Add another load only after the first routine feels natural.

Check built-in timers against a clock, and test how the appliance behaves after a power interruption. Some controls resume their schedule; others require attention. Understand the equipment before depending on it, and follow its instructions for safe operation.

Use a shared note or calendar reminder if several people manage the home. A short explanation of the free hours, excluded circuits and finish-time buffer is enough. Everyone should know that normal needs outside the window still come first.

Review the first complete bill alongside usage data. Check that the correct period and register are being applied and compare the outcome with the original estimate. If something looks different, ask GloBird to explain the billing before making further changes.

Then revisit the routine seasonally. Winter heating, summer cooling and school holidays can shift consumption considerably. A small adjustment every few months may be more useful than trying to maintain the same detailed schedule throughout the year.

The $50 referral credit, explained clearly

The button above uses the supplied referral link to open GloBird’s quote process. The advertised bonus is a $50 account credit for eligible referrals. It is conditional: confirm that your selected FOUR4FREE offer participates before relying on the credit.

The current terms require a qualifying new residential customer, with no GloBird electricity or gas account in the preceding 24 months. Referral details must be included at signup. The customer must pay the first invoice by its due date before the credit appears on the next invoice.

The referrer must also qualify and can receive $50. Credits are not cash; unused credit expires after 12 months. Closing the referred account within three months of transfer can reverse the bonus. The published offer ends on 30 June 2027, but GloBird may amend or discontinue it earlier.

Save confirmation of the referral and eligible offer during the application. If the credit is unclear, ask before completing signup. Treat it as a welcome benefit alongside a suitable ongoing tariff, rather than the main reason to choose an otherwise expensive plan.

A practical checklist before you switch

Request a quote for the actual property and meter configuration. Check that the document names FOUR4FREE, identifies the applicable free hours and includes all relevant charges. Save a copy rather than relying on a promotional screenshot, because a later comparison needs the terms attached to your account.

Read the quote as a complete household offer. Confirm the supply charge, every paid usage rate, any controlled-load charge, solar export credits and applicable payment conditions. Ask whether rates are variable and how changes will be communicated. No lock-in makes reassessment easier, but it does not mean the quoted price is guaranteed indefinitely.

Check concessions or rebates that apply to your circumstances and ask how they will be recorded on the new account. Keep those amounts separate from the plan’s own benefit when comparing offers. A concession available under several plans should not be treated as an exclusive saving generated by this tariff.

Confirm the proposed transfer arrangements and when the new pricing begins. Programme appliances after the applicable start date and confirmed time bands are known. If the property needs metering work, ask about any requirements, charges and timing before assuming the free period will be immediately available.

Finally, keep a simple record of the initial comparison. Note your assumed daily imports, the portion you expect to move and the routine behind that estimate. When the first bill arrives, this record gives you something concrete to check rather than an impression that the plan ought to be cheaper.

Three household patterns worth comparing

A household with someone working from home can assess existing daytime usage first. It may already have cooling, cooking and computer equipment running within the window. The additional opportunity could be moving suitable laundry and dishwashing into the same period without disturbing work or family routines.

A household away on weekdays should start with a more cautious estimate. Weekend usage and appropriate built-in appliance schedules may contribute, but the evening meal, heating and other after-work needs will still attract paid rates. The comparison should give those unavoidable hours their proper weight.

A household with solar and a battery needs a more detailed model. Midday imports, exports, charging losses and later discharge all interact. Compare several ordinary days and ask for help interpreting the data if necessary. A large amount of total household consumption does not by itself indicate a large free-window benefit.

These patterns are starting points, not categories that determine eligibility or savings. Two neighbours with similar homes can have different bills because their routines differ. The appealing feature of FOUR4FREE is that its daily window gives each household a clear question to investigate using its own information.

Alternatives and final questions

A competitive flat-rate plan remains a useful benchmark, especially for homes with little daytime flexibility. An overnight EV offer may suit a car that is away at midday. Solar-focused plans deserve comparison when export credits contribute significantly to the bill.

Use actual rates and equivalent consumption for each alternative. Energy Made Easy provides an independent government comparison service in participating states, while Victorian households can use Victorian Energy Compare. Check that any calculation reflects the free-window routine you genuinely intend to follow.

Does free electricity mean a zero bill?

No. The zero usage rate applies to eligible consumption within the relevant window. Supply charges, paid-period usage and excluded circuits remain part of the account. Assess the complete bill.

Do I need solar or a battery?

The published eligibility criteria require a suitable residential account and smart meter, rather than ownership of solar panels or a battery. Ask GloBird to confirm eligibility for your property.

Can I leave if it does not suit?

The plan terms specify no lock-in or termination fees. Check the applicable documents and any other costs, and remember that separate referral clawback conditions can affect an early departure.

Is FOUR4FREE worth considering?

Yes, particularly when meaningful daytime grid consumption fits naturally into your week. Its clear daily window creates an appealing opportunity to time necessary tasks better. Confirm the quote, circuit treatment and referral conditions, then choose it on the strength of a realistic whole-bill comparison.