In Which I Deeply Regret Installing Solar Panels

I have just finished emailing a preliminary enquiry to Consumer Affairs Victoria about my recently installed white elephant solar panels.

I deeply regret getting solar panels now, two months on, as they have still not been attached to my electricity account due to the failure of the solar installation company to provide Jemena (ie the actual electricity supplier) with the appropriate information to reconfigure my meter.

As some detail in this sorry saga, I provide the following points:

• On 23 October 2024 I paid $4700 for the installation of solar panels (I declined the interest free loan from the state government because I do not like owing money).
• At that time I was told that the company was going to arrange everything with my electricity retailer to ensure that the panels were counted in relation to my electricity bill. (This did not happen.)
• On 13 December after some enquiries with my retailer (AGL), the solar panel installers sent me documentation which was required to reconfigure my smart meter. I forwarded this to AGL. They raised a request with Jemena on 16 December 2024 for the reconfiguration.
• On 6 January 2024, when I decided to check progress, I was advised by AGL that the request for reconfiguration could not proceed because Jemena required additional information in relation to the solar inverter. In particular, a ‘commission CSIP inverter application’ needed to be raised. This was a new requirement.
• I immediately contacted the installer, on 6 or 7 January about this. They were apologetic and said they would take care of it.
• I contacted Jemena on 14 January and asked them if the required request had been raised and they advised that it had not. I asked them to provide me with written advice so I could provide to the installer. I emailed it to them and asked them to action this matter as a priority.
• The installers contacted one of their tradesmen that day to ask them to action this by email.
• I checked with Jemena again on 21 January and this matter has still not been attended to by my solar panel installer.

Right now, I have started keeping screenshots of texts and a record of all emails. I am not sure what (if anything) I can do, or how long a complaint to Consumer Affairs will take, nor what they can do.

What I will advise you if you are thinking of getting solar panels is:

1. Tell any company who cold calls you to go to hell. Stick to some large well known company whom you otherwise deal with for routine things and which you already trust.
2. Keep in mind that the money you can earn from your solar panels sending power to the grid has just been slashed by 99%.
3. Solar panels are probably environmentally harmful and create emissions during their construction which will not be easily offset by the power they generate.
4. You can probably spend the money on something far more worthwhile, like a holiday in Queensland. I sure wish I had!

Stupid me for agreeing to buy from cold callers – but I was in a good mood as I was getting my split cycle aircon system installed and thought that getting panels would be a cost effective way of running my aircon all summer long.