Every year a handful of solar businesses go under, and every time it happens the same thing plays out. Customers who paid a deposit, or worse paid in full before the panels went up, are left holding nothing. Then the phones ring at every surviving installer in the area, because those stranded customers need someone to finish the job or fix a fault, and they are now wary of handing a deposit to anyone ever again.
If you run an install business, that is your problem even when it is not your collapse. You inherit the trust deficit the whole region just took on. So understanding how a customer actually protects their deposit, and what survives when an installer folds, is not consumer trivia. It is intelligence about how to structure your own deposits, payment terms and paperwork so customers back you with confidence and you stay clear of chargebacks and complaints.
I have watched this cycle repeat for 17-plus years, from the RECs-to-STCs shift through to today. The businesses that came out clean were the ones with disciplined deposit terms and a paper trail. Here is what the machinery looks like from both sides of the counter.
Why the deposit is the pressure point
The deposit is where the customer carries the most risk, because it is money paid before they have anything to show for it. A modest holding deposit is normal and reasonable. A demand for most or all of the system price up front, before a panel is on the roof, is the single biggest exposure a customer has if the business fails.
The reason is simple. Once a company is insolvent, cash that has already left the customer’s account is extremely hard to recover. That is true whether it went to genuine costs or straight into a hole. As the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission explains, when a business goes bust the money owed to ordinary customers usually sits behind secured creditors and staff entitlements in the queue (ACCC, n.d.a).
So the smaller and later the customer’s money is exposed, the safer they are. That is the frame a good operator should be reading from too. Every dollar you take before you have earned it is a dollar you will have to defend if anything goes wrong.
What a customer can actually claim when an installer folds
This is where a lot of well-meaning advice falls apart. The Australian Consumer Law gives every buyer a set of consumer guarantees: the work must be done with due care and skill, and goods must be of acceptable quality, with rights to repair, replacement or refund when they are not (ACCC, n.d.b).
The catch is who those guarantees run against. A consumer guarantee is only as good as the solvent business standing behind it. When the installer is in liquidation, there is often no solvent entity left to enforce a guarantee against for the workmanship side. The right still exists on paper; there is just nobody with money to make good on it.
At that point the customer becomes an unsecured creditor in the liquidation. They can lodge a claim with the appointed administrator or liquidator, but the ACCC is blunt about the odds: unsecured creditors frequently recover little or nothing, and only after secured creditors and employees are paid (ACCC, n.d.a). Industry write-ups on stranded solar customers land in the same place, describing warranty claims against a closed installer as effectively worthless (Energy Matters, n.d.).
The practical lesson is that the ACL is a strong shield against a trading business and a weak one against a dead one. Timing and payment method matter far more than the guarantee itself.
Credit card chargebacks: the real first line of defence
The most useful protection a customer has is often the boring one: how they paid. Paying a deposit by credit card, rather than by bank transfer, keeps the chargeback option open. A chargeback lets the cardholder ask their bank to reverse a transaction where goods or services were paid for and never delivered.
Bank transfers and direct debits do not carry the same reversal rights. Once the money has cleared, it is gone unless the recipient chooses to send it back. That difference is exactly why some operators quietly push customers towards direct deposit for the “deposit”. Any customer paying attention should read that push as a small red flag.
For you as the installer, this is worth thinking through honestly. If you are running a clean business, accepting card payments for deposits costs you a merchant fee but signals confidence. You are effectively telling the customer they have a fallback if you fail to deliver, which is a strong trust play at the point of sale.
Warranties: what survives, what dies with the business
Customers routinely confuse three separate things, and so do a lot of salespeople. Getting the distinction right is part of running a straight operation.
The manufacturer’s product warranty on the panels and inverter sits with the manufacturer or its Australian agent, not with you. If your business closes, those product warranties generally survive, because they belong to a different company entirely. The customer may have to chase the manufacturer directly and prove the install was compliant, which is harder without the original installer, but the warranty itself does not vanish (energy.gov.au, n.d.a).
The workmanship warranty is the one that dies with the business. That is your promise, as the installer, to fix your own installation faults for a set period. When the company is gone, so is the entity that made the promise, unless it was independently backed. Victoria’s solar program spells out this split between product and workmanship cover clearly for consumers (solar.vic.gov.au, n.d.).
This is one reason quality of work matters commercially, not just professionally. Fewer defects means fewer callbacks means a lighter warranty liability hanging over the business. I have written before about why you should always spot-check your own installs (see Always spot-check your solar installs), and the same discipline reduces exactly the kind of workmanship claims that turn ugly if a business ever hits trouble.
The CEC and SAA complaint path, and its limits
Plenty of customers assume the Clean Energy Council is a regulator that can force a refund or finish their job. It is not, and it helps to be honest with people about that.
Installer accreditation itself has moved to Solar Accreditation Australia, which runs the public lookup where anyone can check whether an installer’s accreditation is current (Solar Accreditation Australia, n.d.). The Clean Energy Council still takes consumer feedback and complaints about accredited businesses and approved sellers (Clean Energy Council, n.d.).
What these bodies can do is investigate conduct, act on accreditation, and point people to the right escalation. What they cannot do is recover a lost deposit from an insolvent company. For the certificate side of things, the Clean Energy Regulator publishes guidance on where rooftop solar and battery complaints should go (Clean Energy Regulator, n.d.), and the federal energy website maps the broader dispute-resolution pathways including state ombudsman schemes (energy.gov.au, n.d.b).
The point for you is reputational. A complaint to the CEC does not have to be about fraud to sting; sloppy paperwork and vague deposit terms are enough to generate one. Being the installer whose accreditation checks out and whose contract is crystal clear keeps you off that list.
What this means for how you run your deposits
Turn all of the above around and it becomes an operating playbook. Keep deposits modest and tied to real milestones, not a lump sum grabbed at signing. Accept card payments and do not steer people to bank transfer. State your deposit, refund and cancellation terms in plain English on the contract, and make sure the customer has a copy.
Then keep the trail. Every quote acceptance, deposit receipt and payment date should be recorded and retrievable, because that record is what protects you if a dispute or a chargeback ever lands. Customers who can see a professional, transparent paper trail are far less likely to file a chargeback or a CEC complaint in the first place, and if they do, you have the evidence to answer it.
This is exactly the gap I am building CurrentFlow to close. The idea is to keep quote acceptance, deposit records and job-lifecycle documentation in one place, so there is always a clean audit trail behind every job rather than a shoebox of PDFs and a memory of what was agreed. Good documentation is not just compliance hygiene; it is how a straight operator proves they are straight.
A pre-signing checklist worth passing your customers
The strongest thing you can do for trust is coach customers on what to check, then pass every test. Verify the installer’s accreditation on the SAA register before signing (Solar Accreditation Australia, n.d.). Keep the deposit small and pay it by card. Read the deposit and cancellation terms, and be wary of any business demanding full payment up front. Understand that product warranties sit with manufacturers while workmanship cover sits with the installer (energy.gov.au, n.d.a). Know the escalation path before you need it (energy.gov.au, n.d.b).
Be the installer who passes that checklist without breaking a sweat, and the deposit conversation stops being a fight. If you want to be told when CurrentFlow opens early access, join the waitlist.
References
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. (n.d.a). When a business goes bust. https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/stay-protected/when-a-business-goes-bust
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. (n.d.b). Repair, replace, refund, cancel. https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/problem-with-a-product-or-service-you-bought/repair-replace-refund-cancel
Clean Energy Council. (n.d.). Feedback and complaints. https://cleanenergycouncil.org.au/for-consumers/feedback-complaints
Clean Energy Regulator. (n.d.). Rooftop solar, solar battery and solar water heater complaints information. https://cer.gov.au/schemes/renewable-energy-target/small-scale-renewable-energy-scheme/small-scale-renewable-energy-systems/rooftop-solar/rooftop-solar-solar-battery-and-solar-water-heater-complaints-information
energy.gov.au. (n.d.a). Warranties and insurance. https://www.energy.gov.au/solar/get-know-solar-technology/warranties-and-insurance
energy.gov.au. (n.d.b). Dispute resolution. https://www.energy.gov.au/solar/solar-retailers-and-installation/dispute-resolution
Energy Matters. (n.d.). My solar has stopped working and my solar installer has closed their business. https://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/my-solar-installer-has-closed-their-business-what-do-i-do/
Solar Accreditation Australia. (n.d.). Check installer accreditation status. https://saaustralia.com.au/accreditation-status-check/
solar.vic.gov.au. (n.d.). Section 8: What warranties are available? https://www.solar.vic.gov.au/solar-panel-pv/section-8-what-warranties-are-available
FAQ
How much deposit is reasonable for a solar installation in Australia?
There is no single legal cap, but a modest holding deposit is normal and a demand for most or all of the price before install is a warning sign. The less money a customer has exposed before the job is done, the safer they are if the business fails. As an installer, tying deposits to real milestones rather than grabbing a lump sum at signing is both fairer and easier to defend.
Can a customer get their deposit back if the installer goes into liquidation?
Usually only partly, if at all. Once a company is insolvent the customer becomes an unsecured creditor and sits behind secured creditors and staff, and the ACCC notes unsecured creditors often recover little or nothing (ACCC, n.d.a). Paying by credit card keeps a chargeback option open, which is often the only practical way to claw a deposit back.
Do solar warranties still apply if the installer has closed down?
Product warranties on panels and inverters generally survive, because they sit with the manufacturer, not the installer (energy.gov.au, n.d.a). The installer’s own workmanship warranty usually dies with the business unless it was independently backed. Victoria’s solar program sets out this split clearly (solar.vic.gov.au, n.d.).
What can the Clean Energy Council do if my installer disappears?
The CEC takes consumer feedback and complaints and can act on accreditation, but it cannot recover a lost deposit from an insolvent business (Clean Energy Council, n.d.). Accreditation checks now run through Solar Accreditation Australia, and the federal energy site maps the wider dispute-resolution and ombudsman pathways (energy.gov.au, n.d.b).
How does good deposit documentation protect my install business?
Clear, recorded deposit and payment terms give you the evidence to answer a chargeback or a complaint, and they reduce the odds of one being filed at all. Customers who can see a transparent paper trail trust the process. Keeping quote acceptance and deposit records in one retrievable place, which is what CurrentFlow is designed to do, means you always have that trail ready.