Across my last two posts: more than 600 Australian solar companies liquidated or deregistered between 2011 and 2018, and an installation obligation that sits with the retailer who sold the system, not the installer who did the work.
Which makes the most important decision a homeowner makes not the panel brand. It is who they buy from, and whether that business will still be there in year six and beyond.
Here is something worth knowing before you sign anything.
The five-year warranty covering the operation, performance and workmanship of a whole solar system is not in the New Energy Tech Consumer Code. It sits in the Clean Energy Council's technical guidance beneath it. On 28 August 2026 the ACCC authorised an amended Code, in which a signatory's minimum warranty period must instead meet or exceed "all applicable legal requirements". Signatories transition by 19 December 2026.
The Australian Consumer Law sets no warranty period, and does not require a warranty at all. Its guarantees last as long as is reasonable for the product, judged case by case after something has already gone wrong. In New South Wales, Home Building Act warranties cover solar installation: two years for ordinary defects, six for major ones. Elsewhere it varies.
So do not assume five years. Ask for it in writing, in the contract.
Then four checks worth making, none of which take long.
Check the entity, not the brand. Look up the company name on the contract at ABN Lookup and see how long it has been registered. A trading name is not a company.
Check whether they are an NETCC Approved Seller. It is voluntary, and it brings standards and a complaints path that an unsigned business does not have.
Get the installer's name and accreditation number, separately from the retailer's. Manufacturer warranties generally need an accredited installer to diagnose the fault and lodge the claim.
Ask who attends if something fails in year three, and get the answer in writing. Not whether it is covered. Who comes.
A serious retailer will answer all four.
Because a warranty is a promise to send a qualified person back to your roof, years after the job was paid for and the crew moved on. It is worth what the business behind it can actually do.
Sources
Everything below was verified from primary sources on 22 September 2026. The four million installations and the 600-plus de-registrations, counted from 2011 to 2018, are established with full citations in Part 1 of this series.
- The five-year whole-of-system warranty is not in the Code. The current New Energy Tech Consumer Code, clause 20.b, requires “a standard minimum supplier’s warranty period on the operation and performance of the New Energy Tech including workmanship”, and states that “the period will meet or exceed the period set from time to time by the Administrator”. No figure appears in the Code itself: New Energy Tech Consumer Code.
- The five years sits in the Administrator’s technical guidance. Clean Energy Council, NETCC Technical Guide – Photovoltaic Systems v1: “Include a minimum retailer’s warranty period of 5 years covering the operation, performance, workmanship and products of the whole PV system. This retailer’s warranty exists in addition to manufacturers warranties.” The Battery Energy Storage Systems guide carries the equivalent: NETCC technical guidance.
- The amended Code and the quoted phrase. ACCC final determination of 28 August 2026, authorisation AA1000702-1, applicant Clean Energy Council. Amended Code clause 22.b requires “a minimum supplier’s warranty period on the operation and performance of the New Energy Tech, including workmanship, that meets or exceeds all applicable legal requirements”, adding that the Administrator “may publish best practice guidance … that may include warranty periods that exceed minimum standard requirements”: ACCC authorisations register, AA1000702.
- The dates. The determination was made on 28 August 2026 and came into force on 19 September 2026. The amended Code is authorised until 19 September 2031. The current unamended Code is authorised only until 19 December 2026, which is the transition date given above.
- The Australian Consumer Law sets no warranty period and does not require a warranty. ACCC: “Warranties are voluntary and are additional to consumer guarantees.” On how long the consumer guarantees last: “There are no set rules for deciding whether a product is of acceptable quality, or how long a product should last for.” See ACCC, Warranties and ACCC, Consumer rights and guarantees.
- New South Wales applies statutory warranties to solar installation. NSW Government: “The statutory warranty provisions of the Home Building Act 1989 apply to the installation of solar panels and are in effect for six years for major defects and two years for any other defects, starting from the date the work was completed”: NSW Government, Installing solar panels.
- Elsewhere it varies. Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the territories were not checked for this article, and no national position is claimed. Queensland in particular should not be assumed, because electrical work sits under the Electrical Safety Act rather than the building-work regime administered by the QBCC.