Brand new massive Solar system faulty within one week of installation

[Francois]

I have spent over $12,000 to install a huge 10.08kW Solar system and are currently paying it off. The install was 31 October and after just two weeks I was requested by AGL to switch it off with a promise that I will be compensated until the isolators have been replaced.

It is now 7 weeks later:

1. My brand new solar system which I am paying off each month is out of action
2. The compensation is paid after it is switch back on; in the meantime, I am paying off the huge electricity bills out of my own pocket
3. Based on this my bill smoothing has increased from $100 per week to $331 per fortnight
4. Hopefully the compensation will be compensation based on reality – I do have snapshots of the two weeks’ worth of data when the system was working
5. My brand-new system was installed within 2 days of the cut-off date for the faulty product re-call – was no one aware at that stage of the issues? My install was 31 October, the recall extended to 2 Nov

I stand ready to receive an electrician to fix this, but since the isolators are in the garage, I need to provide access to the property. This is not acceptable and I have been advised it will take another 5 weeks to fix? Really? This will not happen when i buy anything else like a brand new car or home or furniture - why is this acceptable for a brand new solar system?

[jaydeny · Accepted solution]

Hi Francois,

Thank you for joining the Community!

We apologise for any inconvenience and disruption this issue has caused. While we expect to have the majority of this program of work completed within 90 days, rest assured we are working through impacted customers as quickly as possible, with remediation work already started.

We will continue to communicate with you via email to let you know next steps regarding this remediation work, which will be subject to weather and property access.

As a reminder, once your DC isolators have been replaced and your solar system is operational, we will offer an amount to compensate you for the duration your system was off. We will estimate this compensation based on your system size and available data.

Should you have any further enquiries regarding this issue, we suggest that you get in touch with our Solar customer service team on 1300 356 363.

Kind regards,

Jayden

[Francois]

Jayden, Nice surprise! An electrician from AGL (or working as a subcontractor) sms me last night - said he can replace my DC Isolators today... was there this morning and all is now sorted re the solar fix. It is working great again. I guess the only thing remaining now is to see if the compensation will be in line with my expectations. So in short, it got fixed about 2 weeks ahead of the original schedule. Thanks, Francois

[jaydeny]

Hey Francois,

This is great news! Thank you for letting me know.

Our solar team will be in touch with you regarding compensation, and I'm sure they'll be more than happy and capable to field your questions regarding this.

Kind regards,

Jayden

[Francois]

Hi, The DC Isolators have been fixed, however my system now at best runs at 75% capacity. Previously it was constantly running at 100% capacity. All environmental elements are the same - full sunshine here in Sydney (actually the best conditions for solar for the last 3 days). I have called the solar team and we'll see if this gets fixed as well. Regards, Francois