How To Fix Crap Solar In Australia

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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 – formalising but also building on what the company has already been doing.

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.

Original Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/fixing-crap-solar-mb2132/