SAA accredited installer: how to check yours.
The official register is free, public, and takes about thirty seconds. The part almost nobody gets right is what you are actually searching for — because accreditation belongs to a person, not to the company on your quote, and solar accreditation does not automatically cover batteries.
Written by Juan Flinn, Content Editor · Reviewed by the Mission Green Energy Team · Updated August 2026
The short answer.
Go to Solar Accreditation Australia's checker at saaustralia.com.au/accreditation-status-check. You can search two ways: by accreditation number, or by the installer's first and last name.
That is the whole mechanism. It is free, it is public, and you do not need anyone's permission to use it.
What follows is the part the register does not tell you — what the result means, what it does not mean, and which question to ask so the answer is worth having.
Accreditation belongs to a person, not a company.
Look again at how you search: accreditation number, or first and last name. There is no field for a company. That is not an oversight — accreditation is held by an individual installer or designer, and there is no such thing as an accredited company.
So "is your business SAA accredited?" is the wrong question, and it has a comfortable answer that means very little. A company with fifty staff and one accredited person can truthfully describe itself as using accredited installers.
The question that actually works.
"Who is the accredited person signing off my installation, and what is their accreditation number?"
That question has one correct answer: a name and a number you can type into the register yourself. Any other response — a company name, a certificate image, "all our installers are accredited" — is not an answer to the question you asked.
A reasonable installer will give you this without hesitation, because it costs them nothing and it is a matter of public record. Reluctance is the signal, not the specifics.
Ask at quote stage, and again before the install.
Subcontracting is normal in this industry and not sinister. But the accredited person named on your paperwork should be the person who actually attends. If the name changes between quote and install day, that is worth a question — not an accusation, just a question.
Solar accreditation does not cover batteries.
SAA accredits across three separate technology classes, and holding one does not grant the others:
- GCPV — Grid Connected Photovoltaic systems. Solar panels connected to the grid.
- GCBS — Grid Connected Battery Systems. Storage connected to the grid.
- SPS — Stand-alone Power Systems, with no grid connection at all.
So an installer accredited for GCPV is accredited to install your panels. That accreditation says nothing about their competence to install a battery. Those are different classes and they are applied for separately.
And within each class, three different things.
Each class can be held as Design only, Install only, or Design and Install. The person who designed your system may not be the person qualified to install it, and vice versa. On a straightforward job the same person does both. On a larger one they often do not.
One restriction worth knowing about.
SAA restricts GCBS Install Only: it is available only as an additional accreditation to someone who already holds GCPV Design & Install. In other words, battery-install accreditation is built on top of full solar accreditation rather than standing alone — which is a sensible design, and it means a battery installer has demonstrated solar competence first.
If you are buying solar and a battery together, the question becomes: which classes does the accredited person hold, and do they cover both halves of what I am buying? The register shows the classes. Most people never look past the green tick.
SAA, NETCC and the Clean Energy Council are not the same thing.
These get used interchangeably in sales conversations, and they cover completely different ground. Getting them straight is most of what protects you.
| What it accredits | Who holds it | What it tells you | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAA Solar Accreditation Australia | Installers and designers | An individual person | This person is technically accredited to design or install this class of system |
| NETCC New Energy Tech Consumer Code | Retailers and sellers | A company | This business has signed up to consumer-protection standards for sales, contracts and after-sales |
| CEC Approved Products Clean Energy Council | Hardware | A product model | This panel, inverter or battery is verified and eligible for installation in Australia |
You want all three, and they answer different questions.
An SAA-accredited person can install a system beautifully for a company that behaves badly on contracts. A NETCC-approved retailer can sell you hardware that is not on the approved list, in which case no rebate applies. Approved products fitted by an unaccredited person will not earn certificates at all.
Each one closes a different hole. Checking one and assuming the others is the common mistake, and it is the mistake the industry's looser operators rely on.
"Is there a list of accredited installers in my state?"
This is what most people are actually looking for, and the honest answer is no — not in the form you are picturing. There is no browsable directory of SAA-accredited companies in New South Wales, Queensland, the ACT or anywhere else, and no state-by-state list to filter.
That is not an omission. It follows directly from the thing above: accreditation attaches to a person, so a list of accredited companies would be a category error. SAA publishes a status check, not a directory, because the only question it can answer is "does this individual hold current accreditation?"
What to do instead.
Work backwards. Shortlist installers the ordinary way — local reputation, quotes, references, how they handle your questions — then verify the accredited person attached to each quote before you sign. Verification is the last step, not the search.
If you want a starting point that is checkable, the retailer side is where a list does exist: NETCC publishes its approved sellers, and that is a company-level register. It tells you about consumer-protection commitments rather than technical competence, so it narrows the field without replacing the SAA check on the individual.
Anyone advertising an "SAA accredited company directory" is selling you something SAA does not publish. Treat a paid listing as advertising, which is what it is.
That term no longer describes an installer.
Installer and designer accreditation used to be run by the Clean Energy Council. On 29 February 2024 the Clean Energy Regulator approved Solar Accreditation Australia as the new accreditation scheme operator, and installers had until 29 May 2024 to transfer if they wanted to keep claiming small-scale technology certificates.
The CEC is direct about it in its own words: after operating for more than sixteen years as administrator, it "chose not to apply to be an accreditation scheme operator and its services have now ceased", and the program "has now fully transitioned to SAA".
What that means for a quote you are reading now.
"CEC accredited installer" in 2026 is an out-of-date phrase rather than proof of anything. It is usually harmless — plenty of good installers simply have not rewritten their website since 2024, and the industry spent sixteen years using that wording.
It matters for one reason only: it is not checkable. The CEC no longer maintains that register, so there is nothing to verify the claim against. Ask for the SAA number instead and the question resolves itself in thirty seconds.
Note the CEC has not disappeared. It still runs the approved products lists, still administers NETCC, and still offers CPD that SAA recognises. It just no longer accredits installers.
What accreditation does not tell you.
SAA's checker returns a status. It does not, and is not designed to, tell you the things people assume it does. Being clear about the limits is what makes the check useful rather than reassuring.
It is not a workmanship guarantee.
Accreditation says a person met a technical standard and holds current accreditation for a class of work. It does not promise the specific job on your roof was done well. Accredited installers still make mistakes, and the register has no opinion on any individual installation.
It says nothing about the company's finances.
This is the one that hurts people. An accredited person can install a perfect system for a company that stops trading eighteen months later, taking the workmanship warranty with it. Before you pay a deposit there is a wider set of checks worth running on the company itself. We also keep a report on the outcome when it goes wrong — an estimated 600,000 Australian systems are orphaned, roughly one in six to seven solar homes. Accreditation would not have prevented a single one.
It is not a judgement on sales conduct.
Door-knocking, pressure tactics, misquoted rebates and vanishing discounts are consumer-conduct matters. That is NETCC's territory and the Australian Consumer Law's, not SAA's. An accredited installer can work for a company with a terrible sales operation.
It is a point-in-time check.
Accreditation can lapse or be suspended. A screenshot from last year proves what was true last year. If it matters, check it yourself on the day rather than accepting a certificate image — the register is free and takes less time than reading the certificate.
No accredited person, no rebate.
This is the practical consequence, and it is worth understanding before you are tempted by a cheap quote from someone who is vague about it.
Accreditation is what makes a system eligible to interact with the Clean Energy Regulator's Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme — the mechanism behind small-scale technology certificates, which is where most of the "rebate" on a solar quote actually comes from. SAA also notes that many state-based rebate programs require the installer to be an Accredited Person.
So an installation without a properly accredited person attached is not merely riskier. It can be ineligible for the certificates that the discount on your quote was built from — and that shortfall lands on you, after the work is done.
If a quote is materially cheaper than everything else you have been shown, "who is the accredited person and what is their number" is the first question to ask, not the last.
SAA Accredited Installer Check
FAQ.
Use the free public register at saaustralia.com.au/accreditation-status-check. You can search by accreditation number, or by the installer's first and last name. Ask your installer for the accredited person's name and number before you sign — it is public information, so a reasonable installer will hand it over without hesitation.
There is a status check rather than a browsable directory. SAA's tool confirms whether a specific person holds current accreditation; it is designed to verify someone you are already dealing with, not to shop from a list. That means you need the installer's name or accreditation number first.
No, and the reason matters. There is no browsable directory of SAA-accredited companies for New South Wales, Queensland, the ACT or any other state, because accreditation attaches to an individual rather than to a business — a list of accredited companies would be a category error. SAA publishes a status check for verifying a specific person, not a directory to shop from. Shortlist installers the ordinary way, then verify the accredited person on your quote before you sign. If you want a company-level register, NETCC publishes approved sellers, which covers consumer-protection commitments rather than technical competence.
No, and this is the detail most people miss. Accreditation is held by an individual installer or designer, not by a business — there is no such thing as an accredited company. A firm with fifty staff and one accredited person can accurately say it uses accredited installers. Ask which accredited person is attached to your job.
They are the same scheme at different times. The Clean Energy Regulator approved Solar Accreditation Australia as the accreditation scheme operator on 29 February 2024, and installers had until 29 May 2024 to transfer. The Clean Energy Council states it chose not to apply and its accreditation services have ceased. A 2026 quote saying "CEC accredited" is usually just out-of-date wording, but it is not checkable — ask for the SAA number instead.
Not automatically. SAA accredits three separate technology classes: Grid Connected Photovoltaic (GCPV) for solar, Grid Connected Battery Systems (GCBS) for storage, and Stand-alone Power Systems (SPS). Holding GCPV says nothing about battery competence. If you are buying solar and a battery together, check that the accredited person holds both classes.
GCPV is Grid Connected Photovoltaic — solar panels connected to the grid. GCBS is Grid Connected Battery Systems — storage connected to the grid. SPS is Stand-alone Power Systems, with no grid connection at all. They are applied for separately, and the register shows which ones a person holds.
Each technology class can be held three ways. Design only covers specifying the system, Install only covers physically installing it, and Design and Install covers both. On a straightforward job one person usually does both; on larger jobs they are often different people. SAA also restricts GCBS Install Only — it is available only as an add-on for someone who already holds GCPV Design and Install.
In practice, if you want the rebate, yes. Accreditation is what allows a system to interact with the Clean Energy Regulator's Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme, which is the source of the small-scale technology certificates behind most of the discount on a solar quote. SAA also notes that many state rebate programs require an Accredited Person. Without one, the certificates may not be claimable — and that shortfall lands on you after the work is done.
No. It confirms a person met a technical standard and holds current accreditation for a class of work. It does not certify any individual installation, it says nothing about whether the company will still be trading when you need a warranty claim, and it is not a judgement on sales conduct. It is also a point-in-time check — accreditation can lapse, so verify on the day rather than trusting a certificate screenshot.
They cover different things and you want both. SAA accredits the individual installing or designing your system — technical competence. NETCC, the New Energy Tech Consumer Code, applies to the retailer as a business and covers sales conduct, contracts and after-sales standards. Separately, the Clean Energy Council still lists approved products, which covers the hardware. Three checks, three different gaps.
Treat the reluctance as the answer. The number is public, checking it costs the installer nothing, and any accredited person can produce theirs immediately. If a company deflects to a certificate image, a company name, or "all our installers are accredited", you have not received an answer to the question you asked — and you have learned something more useful than the number would have told you.
The thirty-second version.
1. Ask for the accredited person's name and accreditation number — not the company's.
2. Search it yourself at SAA's accreditation status check, by number or by first and last name.
3. Check the classes. GCPV covers solar. GCBS covers batteries. If you are buying both, you need both covered.
4. Check Design versus Install, and confirm the person named is the person attending.
5. Separately confirm the retailer is NETCC approved and the hardware is on the CEC approved products list. Three different checks, three different holes.
6. Do it on the day. Accreditation lapses; screenshots do not.
We are an SAA-accredited installer and a NETCC-approved retailer, and none of that is a reason to take our word for it. Everything above is a public register you can check without talking to us. If a company treats that question as an inconvenience, you have learned something more useful than the answer.