In my last post: Australia has passed four million rooftop solar installations, and more than 600 companies with “solar” in the name had entered liquidation or de-registration between 2011 and 2018.
A solar system does not carry a single warranty, there are multiple parties standing behind the components.
The “product warranty” is issued by the manufacturer. Panels are commonly 10 to 15 years on product and 25 years on performance, inverters 5 to 10 years, batteries around 10. De-registration of the retailer does not extinguish it, because the retailer never held it. Most manufacturers require an accredited installer to diagnose the fault and lodge the claim.
The installation is a different matter. The installer performs the work. The obligation to the customer sits with the retailer who collected the revenue.
Under Australian Consumer Law, where a customer pays a single supplier for both the system and its installation, that supplier is responsible for the remedy, including where the installation was subcontracted. The installer’s obligation runs to the retailer who engaged them, not to the customer. Only where a customer contracts an installer separately does that installer answer to them directly.
Voluntary industry codes have sat alongside that position. The Clean Energy Council’s Approved Solar Retailer code ran from 2013 until January 2023 and required its signatories to provide a minimum five-year warranty on the operation and performance of the whole system, covering workmanship and products. It has been replaced by the New Energy Tech Consumer Code. Under both, the signatory is the retailer, not the installer.
So the exposure runs in one direction. The hardware warranty is held by a manufacturer and continues. The installation obligation is held by the retailer whose name is on the contract, and once that retailer is deregistered there is no entity to claim against, whether or not the installer who did the work is still trading.
That is what 600 de-registrations mean for the customers who bought from them.
Next: what determines whether the retailer carrying that obligation is still trading at the point it is called on.
Sources
The legal position described above is set out in the sources below. 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.
- Where a customer pays a single supplier for goods and installation, that supplier is responsible for the remedy even if the work was subcontracted; where the customer pays separate businesses, the retailer answers for the product and the installer for the install: Australian Consumer Law consumer guarantees. See ACCC, Solar panel systems and home batteries, and energy.gov.au Warranties and insurance / Dispute resolution.
- Clean Energy Council Approved Solar Retailer code required a minimum five-year whole-of-system warranty covering workmanship and products; the signatory was the retailer: Clean Energy Council, Solar Retailer Code of Conduct. The program ran from 2013 to January 2023 and has been replaced by the New Energy Tech Consumer Code.
- Product warranty is issued by the manufacturer and is unaffected by the retailer’s deregistration: CHOICE, What to do if your solar company goes out of business.
- Typical warranty terms (panels 10-15 yr product / 25 yr performance, inverters 5-10 yr, batteries ~10 yr): general market ranges. Varies by manufacturer and model.