There are still far too many crap solar power system installations occurring and dodgy solar businesses operating in Australia – and the situation could be quite easily fixed says SolarQuotes founder Finn Peacock.
Shoddy Solar Examples
A recent ABC 7.30 Report story on dodgy solar in Australia highlighted the plight of a Victorian household who forked out around $12,000 for a solar power system in 2017 under finance that didn’t operate as it should.
As well as being overpriced, the household’s electricity bill only went down by around $20 a quarter. Then in 2019, the local power network called the owner, informing him the system wasn’t exporting to the grid. The inverter had failed.
The owner searched on the brand name of the inverter – and the company was nowhere to be found. He subsequently called another (reputable) installer for assistance. At that point he just wanted to get the solar panels off his roof, even though he was still paying for the system.
Fortunately, the installer was able to fix the system by replacing the inverter and making modifications to what was other shoddy work. But it never should have come to this.
The segment also covered the situation of a New South Wales man who had the roof of his shed damaged by careless installers. While he eventually received $20,000 compensation after pursuing the issue – a lengthy process that caused him and his wife a huge amount of stress – things simply shouldn’t have gone this far.
Substandard Solar Inspections
Commenting on the Victorian case, SolarQuotes Founder and CEO Finn Peacock says:
“The inspection regime in Victoria is fundamentally broken. There are crappy systems passing inspections … a bad solar installation is just your classic dodgy tradie problem.”
While Victoria is attempting to make improvements, it appears to be still a case of installers being able to choose their own inspector.
“You can see how that might lead to inspectors passing systems they shouldn’t – and they do because it happens all the time.”
The Clean Energy Council’s Approved Solar Retailer program is also mentioned in the 7.30 Report story as a way for consumers to help protect themselves from dodgy solar companies.
But it doesn’t. It started out as a fantastic scheme, but Finn says it has evolved into something about as useful as a chocolate teapot.
“If it worked, you wouldn’t have a list of solar retailers that includes the company I would personally rate as the worst solar retailer in Australia, based on feedback I’ve had and the amount of reviews that come into SolarQuotes.”
SQ’s Ronald says solar buyers need to do their research regardless of whether a company is an Approved Solar Retailer or not.
“There are Approved Retailers who are great, and there are some real stinkers among them. So just because it says Approved Retailer means nothing.”
Calls for better solar standards won’t change things either. Australia has solid standards coming out its wazoo and good accreditation programs. Australian Consumer Law offers buyer protection.
The fix needs to be about weeding out shonky operators at both the sales and installation end – fast.
Simple Fixes
With having a shoddy system installation addressed being an excruciating process at times, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
“We know the solution, Tasmania has solved it”, states Finn. “In Tasmania, there’s an electrical inspection for every single solar system that’s been installed. But here’s the crucial part – it’s done by the organisation responsible for electrical safety in that state.”
Finn states other thing that needs to be done is tying an electrical licence to the retailer instead of just the installer who may be subcontracted by a solar business – and to make it mandatory for every solar retailer in Australia to have an electrical licence in order to sell solar power systems.
“And if you fail too many of these inspections, or you do something really dangerous, you get your electrical licence taken off you.”
While this retailer electrical licence requirement already exists in some states, the loss of licence where there is an established pattern of poor quality and other problems is something that should happen sooner rather than later, as is currently occurring.
SolarQuotes Good Installer Guarantee Launched
The 7.30 Report stated the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has received 500 complaints about solar installations in the first half of this year.
In the absence of a solid inspection regime right across the country and other ongoing issues, Australian solar buyers want and deserve more assurance that what they are promised is what will be delivered – a good quality solar installation that performs as promoted.
Since 2009, Finn has been continually refining the process of carefully vetting installers wanting to join the SolarQuotes network, and then ongoing monitoring. He is so confident in what he’s built, Finn recently launched the SolarQuotes Good Installer Guarantee.
Through using SQ’s ‘Get Quotes‘ service and choosing one of the referred installers, in the unlikely event a system isn’t installed to the specification promised, SolarQuotes will work with the customer and the installer to resolve any issues with the system.
“And 99% of the time, that installer is more than happy to do that because they are a good installer that has dropped the ball and they’re horrified,” says Finn.
In the even more unlikely event an SQ referred installer still does not install what they promised, SolarQuotes will engage another installer – at its own cost – to make it right.
Learn more about the SolarQuotes Good Installer Guarantee.
About Michael Bloch
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Is this a government concern though, or simply another case of caveat emptor? There are tools and sites such as SQ which allow people to assess whether a brand is reputable\reliable. If people are trying to buy the cheapest nastiest system around then aren’t they basically getting what they paid for? Why should government protect them from their own decisions? Now if import tariffs were imposed on panels imported from nations emitting excess CO2 that at least would make sense and solve some of the problems right? (China is the largest polluter in the world by total CO2 emission, and 34th by emissions per sq. mile).
In my own case for instance I paid roughly a third more for my system than a relative did, but I have far more confidence in the long term reliability of it, and the backup service provided by the installer, than I do in said relative’s, plus it isn’t Chinese so I’m not supporting Beijing. Better backup service has also proven to be a good thing since a couple of powercuts have seen bad\corrupted data recorded by the inverter and so I’m showing GWh for purchased power and solar yield for one day, month, year, and the total.
(Anyone know how to fix a faulty .csv record? 🙂 )
Naturally I’m hoping the issue will be solve shortly but it’s an annoying error rather than critical one so no rush.
I agree with your caveat emptor up to a point.
I live in a 9 unit 2 storey townhouse block and like you I installed a Solar Quotes system costing at least 30% more than my neighbour who paid for a cut-price installation on his roof.
His system was incorrectly installed (panel fixings not symmetrical and outside the locations required by the Manufacturer) and has a cracked panel – noticed by us after 6 months so how it happened is unknown.
He is not inclined to pursue the company involved (not SolarQuotes approved) since his system is still producing power.
Our Body Corporate had approved his proposed solar system because like all of the dodgy companies they are “CEC approved” and their Installers are “CEC accredited”.
Now we are faced with a recalcitrant unit Owner who is unlikely to get any after sales service.
Without tighter regulations it is not only the gullible solar system Buyers who end up being adversely affected by poor quality solar companies.
Chocolate tea pots at work:
https://www.google.com/search?q=making+a+chocolate+tea+pot&rlz=1C5CHFA_enAU890AU891&oq=making+a+chocolate+tea+pot&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30.6193j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Hi Michael & Finn,
How do we take you up on the ‘SolarQuotes Good Installer Guarantee’ please? We obtained quotes through Solar Quotes and used one of your recommended installers, who was highly rated at the time. All seemed ok initially… but then defects were picked up by the independent inspector (on behalf of CER).
Surprisingly, the installer doesn’t want to do anything about it, unless compelled to, and it’s really dragged on. They also don’t seem to have the skills to understand or rectify the issues listed in the inspection report. At this stage, I’m not sure we’d trust them on the roof again anyway, in all honesty.
We’d LOVE an independent installer to fix it!
Please help! My email is listed in the online form. Thank you 🙂
Thanks for reaching out – Ned will be in touch ASAP to learn more and assist.
Clearly an area needing regulation. Paying more doesn’t guarantee a better job – it may. We accept government regulation in electrics – electricians have to be licensed for obvious reasons. The same applies to solar systems. If you buy a toaster for $15 from a shop it must meet the standards. It is such a big investment that a problem can be crippling. In the first installation I had done, the installer ruined a new $30,000 roof. Caveat emptor implies a possibility of being able to check things out – easier said than done. Finn’s service is great, but being remote only one quote arrived, and I found the salesman to be very argumentative, so I went elsewhere. The company was reputable, but thank God for inspections. The system was only partially earthed and dangerous. Fortunately everyone who got on the roof was wearing rubber boots. The company came back and rectified the problem cheerfully, but the prospects of using a cowboy company is frightening.
I have had 2 separate installs of solar systems – 3 including the battery – & never seen an inspector in Adelaide
The problem with mandating inspections after each installation is that this is likely to be an additional cost when installing solar, as even the organisation responsible for electrical safety in the state is unlikely to do it for free – they will just charge the installer and the installer will pass that cost onto the customer.
Even now, the upfront price of a solar panel system is enough to make a most people think twice, particularly in places where the feed in tariff is very low or if the household doesn’t use much electricity.
Personally, if I was to get solar, I would almost defiantly go for a cheap and nasty system – they are just too cheap not to (I’m in Victoria and I’ve found that after the Victorian government rebate a cheap 6kw system is less than half the price of a good quality one) and they generally still have competitive warranties.
Except, of course, when the company that installed the cheap and nasty phoenixes and then you’ve got no realistic warranty at all.
I’m sure that’s the case, but personally, when a cheap system is half the cost of a good one, I’ll take that risk.
After all it only really needs to last 10 years at the most as beyond that timeframe I’ll probably have moved house and I don’t need a solar panel system devaluing it when I want to sell (now with the new rental laws in Victoria the system needs to be checked by an electrician every 2 years, so a solar panel system will certainly deter a lot of investors who know they will have to pay for these checks).
Hi Finn,
I came to you to find a good reliable company to install solar and you gave me three companies to get quotes. Of the three I approached 2 definitely wanted my business and bent over backwards with their quality of customer service. The one that did the installation were and still are definitely great guys. I would have no problem recommending them to another customer.
Thanks so much for all the work you have put into your site.
I don’t know why more people have not sought your input.
Howard and Barbara Williams
Wyoming, N.S.W.
P.S. when a full year is up I will give you all the details of the company and system installed