Call to protect consumers from the solar ‘shonks’ and failed businesses

Consumer advocates say a recent expansion to the powers of the Clean Energy Regulator is a step in the right direction, but more is needed to ensure public confidence in big-ticket purchases in clean energy for the household, such as rooftop solar and batteries.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission deputy chair Delia Rickard said customers needed to look for companies with a strong track record.Gerard Brody, chief executive of the Consumer Action Law Centre, said the solar industry needed a last-chance compensation program, similar to state-based schemes for the motor car industry to provide back-up consumer protections if a car dealership goes out of business.

A spokesperson for the Clean Energy Regulator said it had not yet removed any companies from the solar rebate scheme, but had seen improved performance by many retailers and installers who were previously on the “watch list”. “It’s definitely a concern and it’s going to become multiplied, when you add the battery, the vehicle charger, the electric hot water and the electric kitchen,” Griffith said.

Griffith argues that household renewables should be conceived as national infrastructure because of their combined importance for the electricity grid, and that implied governments had some responsibility. “The same sort of thing should apply. Effectively, we’re using a utility service, and the security and the technology shouldn’t be our responsibility.”

niltiac Government are the cause of many solar companies going out of business, just too much red tape and its the most heavily regulated industry out there. Government need to back off and just concentrate on the real crooks opening solar companies with the intention to do a runner

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