The most commonly installed Solar PV system in Sydney is a 5kW system. This usually consists of around 20 Solar panels and an inverter. It certainly seems like they’re all the same and you’re probably wondering why you’d pay $5000 for some Solar panels when you just saw an ad that goes like this: “$2999 for 5kW system using Tier 1 panels fully installed.” Well in simple, as the famous saying goes, buy cheap, buy twice.
When you see an advertised price for a 5kW solar system, or receive Solar quotes that are significantly cheaper than ones you’ve received from a reputable, trusted Solar company, alarm bells should sound for the following reasons.
There are many components of a Solar system that the everyday uninformed customer is usually unaware of, such as the rail and mounting kits used to mount the solar panels on your roof, and many electrical components which include cabling, Solar PV rated conduits, isolators, circuit breakers and most importantly, the installation itself. It isn’t always a case of getting the same panels in a deal that’s so much cheaper, as that just means there will be shortcuts in supplying cheaper quality electrical and mounting components which you didn’t even consider asking about while receiving your Solar panel quotes.
Due to Solar PV panels becoming increasingly popular by the day across Australia, with over 1 million houses now having Solar panel systems, it’s caused tremendous growth in the Solar industry. Unfortunately, this has created easy opportunities for cowboys to infiltrate the industry and make a lot of money by ripping off as many hard working Aussie families as possible then shutting down. The sad part is, they then phoenix and operate under a new name, repeating the same steps and hurting the industry’s reputation.
Some precautions you can take to ensure you’re not dealing with a dodgy Solar company are by checking their reviews, making sure they are CEC Accredited, and are offering you a reasonably priced system.
At Red Giant Solar we’ve received tens, if not hundreds of enquiries for call outs to help repair peoples Solar systems after they were ripped off by Solar fly-by-nighters, who sadly baited them with an incredibly cheap deal then shut shop when time came to honour warranties and help their clients with ongoing support for their Solar panel systems.
It’s quite simple, if they’re offering you a $1000 discount, it means they’ll be compromising on the quality of your system to the equivalent of that amount, on components that will be concealed behind your Solar panels or in tubes running inside your roof down the cavity of your wall.
We always advise our customers that installing a Solar panel system should only be done once, and the only way to ensure that happens, is by paying a little extra for a good quality Solar panel system. Not only will it give you tonnes of free electricity to last you many years to come, but also peace of mind knowing you’ve got a safe Solar system consistently harvesting free energy from the sun for your home.
