Rainbow Power Company Reviews
About
Rainbow Power Company Ltd (RPC) is a public company, incorporated in 1987 to design, manufacture, sell and install renewable energy equipment. RPC is a licensed electrical contractor in New South Wales and Queensland and services Northern NSW and South East QLD.
RPC is a Clean Energy Council approved retailer and employs a number of staff that are accredited in design and installations of grid-connected and off-grid energy systems.
From RPC's Mission Statement:
To manufacture, wholesale, retail and demonstrate by example devices powered by Renewable Energy sources.
To trade in only high quality, user friendly, efficient, cost effective products, supported by reliable up-to-date advice and after sales service.
To educate the general public in aspects of using energy from renewable sources, and living and developing in a sustainable way.
To aid developing countries of the world in improving their living standards by educating and trading with them in renewable energy products.
The Company's headquarters are powered by a 60 kW grid interactive solar system with 35 kWh of battery backup.
The 1100 sq metre buildings feature passive solar design, composting toilets, a solar hot water system, organic insulation (wool, mud bricks) and many other energy efficient solutions. Most members of staff also have a renewable energy system at home.
Panels, inverter, battery and EV charger brands
Inverter brands currently installed
Battery brands previously installed
The views expressed by reviewers are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of Peacock Media Group, which makes no representations as to the accuracy of the reviews. For our full disclaimer and further information, see our Terms of Use and our Review Guidelines.
Rainbow Power Company Reviews (22)
Show Most Recent reviews from All time across Australia
Average Scores
4.4/5
Value for money
4.6/5
Quality of System
4.8/5
Installation
4.7/5
Customer Service
- 5 star 11
- 4 star 10
- 3 star 0
- 2 star 0
- 1 star 1
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15 May 2023
04 May 2021
Excellent service
Excellent service from start to finish, would highly recommend. Cheap as well.Inverter rating: 3/5
28 March 2021
Rainbow Power have again been the preferred choice.
Rainbow Power have again been the preferred choice.Local company.
Wealth of knowledge & easy to deal with.
One of the longest serving companies involved in alternative power?
Did the lot, Essential Energy applications, STC assignments, supply, install, grid connect.
Will be contacting for future systems & addition...
Michael C
30 January 2020
Top Rated Installers! Professional, Informative and Friendly. Smart Looking Installation!
The sales/quoting process was very professional and would highly recommend to anyone looking to install solar panels.Installation was problem free, they were punctual and left our premises tidy on completion.
We are extremely pleased with the customer service, even helping to lodge the grid connection forms.
Panel rating: 5/5
Inverter rating: 5/5
09 January 2020
Excellent work.
Sales and quoting was very professional.Installation went very well. Better than expected.
Customer service was fantastic and did organise the grid connection after the install. Thank you.
Panel rating: 4/5
Inverter rating: 4/5
16 September 2019
Glad we chose Rainbow
Our location was far from ideal for solar generation during the winter months. Located in a valley, with forest on our northern side, some shading was always going to be an issue when the sun was low in the sky. We are heavy power users with five air conditioners, along with all the other power hungry devices we have these days.We got three quotes for our system. The first two company's "designers" seemed more like salesmen to me. They both wanted us to install 6.5kw systems with standard inverters despite my brief being to install as much generating capacity as possible along with microinverters to minimise our winter losses from shading. I got the feeling that they had a one size fits all attitude to their systems and was aware of heavy handed sales techniques being used.
Fabien from Rainbow, on the other hand, spent a long time listening and inspecting the site to work out how we could make the best of our less than optimum situation. He has an extensive knowledge of all the technical aspects and was able to communicate that effectively. Rainbow are certainly not the cheapest, but they have been around for over thirty years and use only the best, most efficient equipment.
We ended up going with a nine kw system with Trina panels, Enphase microinverters and a Powerwall 2 battery.
Installation was quick and tidy and the system has worked flawlessly from day one. It was commissioned in mid January so we have now had plenty of time to see how it's performing.
During the summer months the solar/microinverter/battery setup exceeded my expectations by a good margin. On our best day we generated 57.3 kwh. We deliberately didn't spare the air conditioners throughout the year just to get an indication of what the system is capable of. Performance during the winter months again exceeded expectations. I never had high hopes for winter after spending many hours on the roof with the sun seeker app and realising just how short the hours of production were going to be. The system seems to be extremely efficient. When I look at the Tesla app now I can see over the year to date we have generated 70% of our electricity as well as selling quite a bit back to the grid. I’m sure that if we took the trouble to be more efficient with our energy usage we could easily improve those figures quite a bit. I should add that we use a wood fire for our main heating at night but there will often be an AC in one of the kid's rooms running. In the winter mornings there are usually 3 ACs running early morning, including one very big one. During summer there are often three aircons running simultaneously.
Fabien has been in touch a few times since commissioning to check that we are happy with performance and continues to monitor the inverters and battery online. We couldn't be happier with our dealings with Rainbow and it's a comfort to know that, with a system designed to last decades, they will still be around to help if any future issues do arise.
Panel rating: 5/5
Inverter rating: 5/5
Battery rating: 5/5
19 April 2019
Original Review on 18-08-2018:
While all 3 retailers from your website contacted me, only one was seriously interested in my preference for Enphase micro inverters. Two tried to talk me into one oftheir standard string sytems or DC optimisers. The third seemed very keen at first, but then simply stopped communicating half way through technical discussion, and
never sent me final proposal.
Fabien at Rainbow maintained great contact through our discussion of options, and was enthusiastic about the microinverter option.
8 months later we asked Phil: "Are you happy with the performance of your system so far?"
Exceeded! Upgrading our existing string array to micro inverters has increased its output by about 50%. The new array, better positioned, but with sweeping shade, kicks arse!06 March 2019
Large trees that we can't remove mean that there were some issues with the installation but they talked me through the problems and their solution is working well
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27 December 2018
Most of the installers on North coast are cowboys. Rainbow power company have been in business over 30 years.
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16 October 2018
This was the 7th company to supply me with a quote, wish I had gone to them first,
not the cheapest, but they use quality products, happy with the cost, and they do not do the hard sell
Signed the contract on the 19/09/2018 and the system was installed on the 28/09/2018 in 2 days, 20 panels, great job, no mess left,
The follow up from this company is amazing, they put customers first,
(must be the reason they have been in business for 31 years) another reason we chose them,
Would recommend Rainbow Power Co highly, easy to do business with them.
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not the cheapest, but they use quality products, happy with the cost, and they do not do the hard sell
Signed the contract on the 19/09/2018 and the system was installed on the 28/09/2018 in 2 days, 20 panels, great job, no mess left,
The follow up from this company is amazing, they put customers first,
(must be the reason they have been in business for 31 years) another reason we chose them,
Would recommend Rainbow Power Co highly, easy to do business with them.
01 July 2018
Rainbow Power Co. are extremely helpful and friendly. I highly recommend them for any solar install no matter how large or small. Without the help and patience of these guys we would still be in the dark - or at least on a petrol generator...thanks guys!
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01 May 2018
If you want accurate advice and be listened to, Rainbow Power Company is the place for you. We received an immediate response to our enquiry which included three possible alternatives. Once we made our decision the job was completed in a very short time. Unfortunately there was a manufacturing fault with our inverter on installation but it was replaced almost immediately without argument. The installers completed the job in a day and when they left there was no sign they had been here. Now I get great joy checking the output on my phone. I would have no reservation in recommending Rainbow Power Company.
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09 April 2018
Very happy so far
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07 March 2018
We asked for a quote for our solar system with Rainbow Power because of the length of time Rainbow Power has been around, the awards won, the great reviews and a local employer.
Fabien was our first contact and when he arrived at our home was very knowledgeable, very helpful and gave us great advice and service.
Fabien was always quick to reply to email questions and revise the setup when there was a restriction of how much we can put back into the grid.
The install was seamless and the end result looks great.
Our new system is performing excellently with an average of 25kWh per day
I would highly recommend Rainbow Power Company.
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Fabien was our first contact and when he arrived at our home was very knowledgeable, very helpful and gave us great advice and service.
Fabien was always quick to reply to email questions and revise the setup when there was a restriction of how much we can put back into the grid.
The install was seamless and the end result looks great.
Our new system is performing excellently with an average of 25kWh per day
I would highly recommend Rainbow Power Company.
30 September 2017
Original Review on 25-01-2017:
SAE's quote was actually $600 less, different panel brand but equally rated though not around for so long, micro inverters and control system the same. Waited for over two weeks for full response and quote from SAE. Rainbow Power had one of their technicians visit my premises two days after my initial phone call, and a quote prepared after careful discussion of my power usage and needs a day later. Sales person was knowledgeable and there was no sales pressure. Rainbow's installers were super efficient and pleasant and the whole job was completed in one day. There was initially some question as to whether Essential Energy would approve the installation owing to an extra long connection from their street supply to my mountain premises, Rainbow Power negotiated this for us successfully.In my experience Rainbow Power has done an excellent job for us and we are already reaping the benefits.
8 months later we asked Paul: "Are you happy with the performance of your system so far?"
Absolutely. The system has exceeded our expectations and we are delighted with the drop in power bills. If I had some spare cash tomorrow I'd be keen to install battery storage and go off the grid altogether. And of course if battery prices drop, while maintaining reliability, Then I could see that becoming a worthwhile investment for our household.
23 March 2017
A relief not to be sales talked into anything, to be given an honest appraisal of my needs and consequently what I was to buy. A relief to find business honesty and integrity still exists in Australia.
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23 September 2016
Professional job, nice tidy work using quality equipment. They are not cheap, but you get what you pay for and with RPC you get a well-designed, neat system with good backup and after-sales service. I suspect the person complaining about his system being under-sized either didn't listen to advice and tried to go cheap, or seriously under-estimated electricity usage (most likely both).
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20 March 2016
We have been delighted with the whole process and so glad to renew our association with Rainbow Power Company, which provided our initial solar system in 2003. This performed faultlessly for all those years and was still going strong. Its various components will now go to other homes and continue to provide power to good people. Our compliments to Sean and Ben who both impressed us with their efficiency, competence and wonderful personalities. It has been a rich experience. Thank you.
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02 March 2016
Recently, we had an extensive Solar System installed large enough to take air conditioning in the future.
Tully was the first person we spoke to on the phone. He was amazing. Tully was so thorough, firstly finding out what our needs were today and in the future. Then he systematically went through what we already have – over the phone, then he made an inspection of our current sad system and talked it all through with us so we understood totally. The next day, Tully had a detailed costing and very detailed explanations as to what it was all about. At the very end when it was all installed and working wonderfully, Tully again checked up on us and our readings to make sure all was good.
Sean and Ben – were incredible. They arrived at our home all ready to go and got stuck into installing everything. They clearly had a wealth of knowledge and did such an amazing job. Sean and Ben were so thorough in explaining to us all our questions we had for areas we did not understand. They worked so hard – and it was very hot, which they didn’t seem to even notice. Their work was so neat and stylish – it all looked so fantastic.
Terry – was so extraordinarily helpful. At a moment’s notice and on his day off he popped up to our home to help us out with a few bits and pieces – which was us being new owners, and cautious new owners wanting to do everything right. Terry checked all systems and was able to explain to us what was happening and replaced a bit of our old equipment that definitely needed replacing but we had previously thought it was ok (being so old it was not).
Dave was so polite and professional when he came to inspect the installation.
Thank you to everyone – we are very excited with our new system.
Thank you to Tully for making it happen and making it such an easy process. Also showing us the virtue of a new fridge to replace our old sad esky fridge. We are very grateful.
Kind regards
Penny and Denis
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Tully was the first person we spoke to on the phone. He was amazing. Tully was so thorough, firstly finding out what our needs were today and in the future. Then he systematically went through what we already have – over the phone, then he made an inspection of our current sad system and talked it all through with us so we understood totally. The next day, Tully had a detailed costing and very detailed explanations as to what it was all about. At the very end when it was all installed and working wonderfully, Tully again checked up on us and our readings to make sure all was good.
Sean and Ben – were incredible. They arrived at our home all ready to go and got stuck into installing everything. They clearly had a wealth of knowledge and did such an amazing job. Sean and Ben were so thorough in explaining to us all our questions we had for areas we did not understand. They worked so hard – and it was very hot, which they didn’t seem to even notice. Their work was so neat and stylish – it all looked so fantastic.
Terry – was so extraordinarily helpful. At a moment’s notice and on his day off he popped up to our home to help us out with a few bits and pieces – which was us being new owners, and cautious new owners wanting to do everything right. Terry checked all systems and was able to explain to us what was happening and replaced a bit of our old equipment that definitely needed replacing but we had previously thought it was ok (being so old it was not).
Dave was so polite and professional when he came to inspect the installation.
Thank you to everyone – we are very excited with our new system.
Thank you to Tully for making it happen and making it such an easy process. Also showing us the virtue of a new fridge to replace our old sad esky fridge. We are very grateful.
Kind regards
Penny and Denis
11 June 2014
Just appalling
Our experience with Rainbow Power Company has left us out of pocket and deeply disappointed with their competence, ethics and customer service. Because we bought a system from Rainbow Power Company, six years later we have had to buy another system to replace Rainbow's, except this time, one that works properly.
We were lucky enough to install our stand alone system at a time when there were federal government grants for properties with no access to grid power. We selected Rainbow based upon the fact that they had been around for years and had, we thought, a good reputation. However, we now suspect that due to a government grant being involved, Rainbow's prices were massively inflated.
Installation went smoothly enough and we thought that it had all gone according to plan. Within a few months I noticed that the regulator was giving odd readings. After several attempts to convince Rainbow that there was actually something odd going on they requested I send them photos of the inside of the distribution box behind the regulator. It was soon clear that during installation several shunts were incorrectly wired meaning that charge from the panels was not reaching the batteries and that some of what was, was not being registered. Rather than come out to fix that themselves, they gave me some instructions over the phone of what to do and left me to do it myself.
Though we have a quite small system (1.1kW) we were under the impression that it had been properly spec'ed out and designed to accommodate our power needs. Well, we were completely wrong. While the batteries were quite adequate for our needs the panels were inadequate to charge the batteries, especially during the winter months. Within 5 years our batteries were severely compromised and were unable to hold a full charge no matter how much we tried to charge them, limiting our available power more and more. When we engaged a local solar guy to try and figure out what to do with our system he called Rainbow to ask about the 'weird' arrangement of the shunts. The fine gentleman he spoke to, the owner of Rainbow, was at first defensive, then abusive and then hung up. So, their after sales service leaves much to be desired.
So, 6 years later we have had to spend virtually the same amount again as we originally spent getting Rainbow's system installed. Our new installers have confirmed that Rainbow's system was never able to adequately charge the battery bank and that the entire system was poorly designed. We have had to replace our battery bank and have had 2.5kW of additional panels installed.
So if you buy a system from Rainbow, just make sure you have the available funds to buy two systems ; another system from someone else, a system that actually works.
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Our experience with Rainbow Power Company has left us out of pocket and deeply disappointed with their competence, ethics and customer service. Because we bought a system from Rainbow Power Company, six years later we have had to buy another system to replace Rainbow's, except this time, one that works properly.
We were lucky enough to install our stand alone system at a time when there were federal government grants for properties with no access to grid power. We selected Rainbow based upon the fact that they had been around for years and had, we thought, a good reputation. However, we now suspect that due to a government grant being involved, Rainbow's prices were massively inflated.
Installation went smoothly enough and we thought that it had all gone according to plan. Within a few months I noticed that the regulator was giving odd readings. After several attempts to convince Rainbow that there was actually something odd going on they requested I send them photos of the inside of the distribution box behind the regulator. It was soon clear that during installation several shunts were incorrectly wired meaning that charge from the panels was not reaching the batteries and that some of what was, was not being registered. Rather than come out to fix that themselves, they gave me some instructions over the phone of what to do and left me to do it myself.
Though we have a quite small system (1.1kW) we were under the impression that it had been properly spec'ed out and designed to accommodate our power needs. Well, we were completely wrong. While the batteries were quite adequate for our needs the panels were inadequate to charge the batteries, especially during the winter months. Within 5 years our batteries were severely compromised and were unable to hold a full charge no matter how much we tried to charge them, limiting our available power more and more. When we engaged a local solar guy to try and figure out what to do with our system he called Rainbow to ask about the 'weird' arrangement of the shunts. The fine gentleman he spoke to, the owner of Rainbow, was at first defensive, then abusive and then hung up. So, their after sales service leaves much to be desired.
So, 6 years later we have had to spend virtually the same amount again as we originally spent getting Rainbow's system installed. Our new installers have confirmed that Rainbow's system was never able to adequately charge the battery bank and that the entire system was poorly designed. We have had to replace our battery bank and have had 2.5kW of additional panels installed.
So if you buy a system from Rainbow, just make sure you have the available funds to buy two systems ; another system from someone else, a system that actually works.
20 December 2012
Very experienced team that can explain many advantaged and disadvantages of different systems relating to a clients power usage and circumstances.
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10 May 2011
Great outcome!
We recently purchased an off grid power system from Rainbow Power [ 16 panels 4 lithium batteries and all associated hardware ] and found the whole experience refreshingly free of the usual stress when buying a major item over the phone. All questions answered, all phone calls returned and sound advice given, and an assurance of free technical advice into the future. The components are all top quality and fully compatible. These guys know their stuff and I would recommend them. Ask for Andrew when making enquiries. 10 stars.Panel rating: 5/5
Inverter rating: 5/5
Battery rating: 5/5