Your installer has gone bust. Your rights haven't.
When the company that installed your solar or battery closes down, it feels like your warranty vanished with it. Mostly, it didn't — you've lost a phone number, not your protections. Here's the honest claim ladder, in order, with no upsell: what survives, who to actually call, and the steps that quietly recover money when a deposit's involved.
Reviewed by the Mission Green Energy Team · Updated July 2026
You've lost a contact —
not your protections.
The honest short answer: some cover really does die with the company, but more of it survives than most people are told — and there's an order to claiming it that saves you time and money.
When your installer closes down, it's worth separating the three layers of cover that came with your system, because they don't all share the installer's fate. First, there's the installer's own workmanship warranty — the labour guarantee on cabling, mounting and roof penetrations. That one was a promise from a specific company, and if that company no longer legally exists, it's the layer most likely to be gone. Second, there are the manufacturer product warranties on your panels, inverter and battery — these are agreements with those manufacturers, and they stand whether or not your installer is still trading. Third, there are your consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law, which apply automatically and can't be signed away.
So the practical reality is: you haven't necessarily lost your warranty, you've lost the single point of contact who used to handle it. This guide is the ladder for getting the rest working again — start at the top and stop as soon as your problem is solved. If you want the wider picture first, our overview on orphaned solar systems in Australia and the companion piece on what to do when your installer goes bust set the scene; this page is the step-by-step claim itself.
What actually survives
the company closing?
Before you chase anyone, know which layer of cover you're claiming under. The three behave very differently once the installer is gone.
Installer workmanship warranty
The labour guarantee on the install itself — cabling, mounting, roof penetrations. It was a contract with a specific company, so if that company has been wound up, this is the layer most likely to disappear. A fully accredited install must carry at least a set minimum workmanship warranty, but a promise is only as good as the business behind it.
Manufacturer product warranties
The product warranties on your panels, inverter and battery are agreements with those manufacturers, not your installer. They stand whether or not the installer still trades — so a dead installer does not, by itself, void your panel or battery warranty. This is usually your most useful avenue.
Consumer guarantees (ACL)
Automatic rights under the Australian Consumer Law — acceptable quality, fit for purpose — that can't be excluded by any contract and sit on top of every warranty. The catch is enforcement: a guarantee needs a solvent business to enforce it against, which is why the manufacturer route often matters more once the installer is liquidated.
Gather your paperwork
before you call anyone.
Ten minutes with a folder now saves hours of back-and-forth later. Every rung on the ladder below asks for the same handful of documents — collect them once.
A warranty claim lives or dies on whether you can prove what was installed, when, and by whom. Pull together whatever you can find:
- Proof of purchase — the original quote or sales contract, the tax invoice, and evidence of payment (bank statement, card record, finance agreement).
- Make, model and serial numbers of your panels, inverter and battery — the single most important detail. They're usually on labels on the equipment, in your handover pack, or in your inverter's monitoring app.
- The manufacturers' warranty documents for each component, which set the term and the claim process.
- The install date and, if you have them, the electrical certificate of compliance and any Small-scale Technology Certificate (STC) paperwork — these confirm a compliant, accredited install.
- Photos of the equipment labels and the switchboard, plus any fault messages or app screenshots.
Missing the serial numbers? Don't panic — a new accredited installer can read them straight off the hardware during a site visit (Step 3). But the more you have in hand, the faster every later step moves.
Go direct to the manufacturer
for the faulty part.
If the fault is a specific component — a dead inverter, an underperforming panel, a battery that won't hold charge — the manufacturer's product warranty is usually your strongest and most direct claim.
Because the product warranty is an agreement with the manufacturer, it isn't affected by your installer closing. Contact the manufacturer or its Australian distributor directly, quote your serial numbers, and describe the fault. Under the Australian Consumer Law a manufacturer can also be liable for a product that fails to meet the consumer guarantees, so you have two overlapping grounds — the express product warranty and the ACL — pointing at the same party.
There's one practical wrinkle worth knowing up front. Many manufacturers won't ship a replacement to a homeowner directly: they require an accredited installer to diagnose the fault, remove and refit the hardware, and lodge the claim through their trade portal. A regular electrician often lacks the manufacturer login and accreditation to do this. So a valid manufacturer warranty and a new accredited installer usually go together — which is exactly why Step 3 exists. If your issue is specifically a battery that has stopped performing, our guides on why a battery won't charge to 100% and home battery warranties decoded help you tell a genuine fault from normal behaviour before you lodge anything.
Warranty terms and claim processes change, so confirm the current requirements on the manufacturer's own website or with its Australian support line before you rely on any figure or step here.
Find a new accredited installer
to log and execute the claim.
The person who can actually turn a valid warranty into a replaced part is a currently accredited installer — not just any electrician. Verify their accreditation before you book, and expect a fair diagnostic fee.
An accredited installer is the one with the manufacturer relationships and trade-portal access needed to register a claim and order a warranty replacement on your behalf. Accreditation for solar installers and designers is now administered by Solar Accreditation Australia (SAA), which took over from the Clean Energy Council, and you can verify whether an installer's accreditation is currently active using the SAA accreditation status check before you let them near your roof.
A few honest pointers so you're not swapping one bad experience for another:
- Check accreditation is active — ask for the installer's SAA number and verify it yourself, rather than taking a logo on a website at face value.
- Expect to pay a diagnostic or call-out fee. Taking over someone else's install and diagnosing a fault is real work; a small, transparent fee is reasonable. What isn't reasonable is a large charge before anyone has even looked.
- Be sceptical of "just replace the whole thing". If someone diagnoses a major fault sight-unseen, or pushes a full new system before inspecting, that's a sales reflex, not a diagnosis. A single failed component is usually a warranty claim, not a rebuild.
If you'd rather not vet installers cold, this is the practical thing we can help with — see the recommendation at the end of this page. And if you're weighing whether to repair or start fresh, read how to check a solar installer before you pay a deposit so the next one doesn't end up in this guide too.
Lodge a complaint with
the right body.
If a manufacturer or a solvent party is stonewalling you, a formal complaint can move things. Here's who actually handles what — and the honest limit of what a complaint can do once a company is fully gone.
For an individual dispute, the first port of call is your state or territory consumer-protection agency — NSW Fair Trading, Consumer Affairs Victoria, the Queensland Office of Fair Trading, Consumer and Business Services in SA, and their equivalents in other states. The federal energy department directs solar consumers there for dispute resolution, and it also points to two industry avenues: if the business was a New Energy Tech Consumer Code approved seller you can complain through that scheme, and if it was a Solar Accreditation Australia accredited installer, SAA runs a formal complaints process that can act on the accreditation of the individual installer even where the company is gone. (Source: energy.gov.au — Dispute resolution.)
The honest caveat: a regulator or code administrator can only act against something that still exists. If the installing company has been fully liquidated, there may be no solvent entity left to compel, and a complaint against the dissolved shell won't conjure a remedy. Complaints tend to be most useful when the target is still trading — the manufacturer, a separate installing entity, or the accredited individual behind the work — or when you lodge early, before a wobbling company fully collapses. The ACCC takes an interest in systemic, industry-wide conduct rather than resolving individual disputes, so a single warranty problem generally belongs with your state agency, not the ACCC. The Clean Energy Regulator also publishes where to direct rooftop-solar and battery complaints.
If you paid and got nothing —
the money-back paths.
A different problem from a faulty part: you paid a deposit or the full amount and the company collapsed before delivering. Here the fastest lever is often your bank, not the liquidator.
If you paid by credit or debit card and the goods or services were never delivered because the business became insolvent, you can ask your bank for a chargeback — a reversal of the card payment under the card scheme's rules. It can be far quicker than waiting in the liquidation queue. Two honest constraints: chargebacks are time-limited — the card-scheme windows commonly run in the order of 120 days from the transaction or from when you expected delivery — so you should contact your bank immediately rather than waiting to see how the liquidation plays out; and they generally apply to card payments, not bank transfers. If your bank refuses a reasonable claim, you can escalate to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). (Windows and eligibility are set by the card schemes and change — confirm with your bank.)
If a chargeback isn't available — say you paid by bank transfer, or the window has passed — the remaining path is to register as an unsecured creditor with the appointed administrator or liquidator. Be realistic: unsecured creditors are paid only after secured and priority creditors, so consumers often recover little or nothing. It still costs nothing to lodge, and it's worth doing, but don't put your life on hold waiting for it. The ACCC's guidance for when a business goes bust walks through both the chargeback and the creditor-claim routes.
The claim ladder,
in the order to use it.
Work down this list and stop the moment your problem is solved. Most orphaned-system problems are resolved on the first three rungs.
Paperwork, then manufacturer
Gather serial numbers and proof of purchase, then take a component fault straight to the manufacturer's product warranty — it survives the installer closing and is often your strongest claim.
A new accredited installer
Verify an SAA-accredited installer and have them diagnose, log and execute the manufacturer claim. Most physical fixes actually happen here. Expect a fair diagnostic fee.
Complaints & money-back
Escalate a stonewalled claim to your state fair-trading office or SAA; and for undelivered goods, chase a card chargeback fast and register as an unsecured creditor as a backstop.
What we'd tell a mate
in this exact spot.
Don't rush into a whole new system out of frustration. In most orphaned-system cases the fix is a component warranty claim executed by a good accredited installer — not a rebuild.
Here's the call: your panels, inverter and battery almost certainly still carry live manufacturer warranties, and a single failed part is a claim, not a reason to replace a working system. So work the ladder — paperwork, manufacturer, a verified accredited installer — before you entertain any pitch to start over. Do the chargeback timing check on day one if money's owed. Lean on your state fair-trading office if a solvent party stonewalls you, and use the unsecured-creditor claim as a backstop rather than a plan. The only time a full replacement genuinely makes sense is when the hardware itself is out of warranty and failing — and even then, that's a considered decision, not a panic buy. If you're being told otherwise, that's a sales reflex talking.
Installer gone bust?
Your questions, answered.
Not all of it. When an installer closes down, the part most at risk is their own workmanship warranty — the labour guarantee on cabling, mounting and roof penetrations — because that promise was between you and a company that no longer exists. But two things usually survive: the separate product warranties from the panel, inverter and battery manufacturers, which are agreements with those manufacturers rather than the installer; and your consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law, which apply automatically and cannot be signed away. In short, you have lost a contact, not necessarily your rights. The rest of this guide is the order in which to use them.
Yes — the product warranty on your panels, inverter or battery is with the manufacturer, so it stands whether or not the installer still exists. Gather your serial numbers and the manufacturer's warranty document, then contact the manufacturer or its Australian distributor directly to register or lodge a claim. One practical catch: many manufacturers require an accredited installer to physically inspect, remove and replace faulty hardware, and to log the claim through their trade portal — so even a valid manufacturer warranty often needs a currently accredited installer to actually execute it. Check the manufacturer's current warranty terms, as they change.
Consumer guarantees are automatic rights under the Australian Consumer Law that apply to most goods and services — including that goods are of acceptable quality and fit for purpose. They cannot be excluded, restricted or modified by any contract, and they exist on top of any manufacturer or installer warranty. Where they get hard is enforcement: a guarantee is only as good as a solvent business to enforce it against. If the installing company has been liquidated, your consumer-guarantee claim against that company may only be recoverable as an unsecured creditor in the liquidation, where consumers are often paid little or nothing. But the manufacturer of a faulty product can also be liable under the same law, and that avenue is usually the more useful one when the installer is gone. Check your rights at accc.gov.au.
Look for a currently accredited installer or a licensed electrician who works with solar and battery systems, and confirm their accreditation is active before you book. You can verify an installer's Solar Accreditation Australia (SAA) accreditation status on the SAA website. A CEC-accredited or SAA-accredited installer generally has the manufacturer logins and trade-portal access that an ordinary electrician does not, which is what lets them register and process a manufacturer warranty replacement on your behalf. Expect to pay a reasonable call-out or diagnostic fee — taking over someone else's install involves real work — and be wary of anyone who diagnoses a major fault sight-unseen or pressures you toward a full replacement before inspecting.
For an individual dispute the first stop is your state or territory consumer-protection agency — NSW Fair Trading, Consumer Affairs Victoria, the Queensland Office of Fair Trading and their equivalents. energy.gov.au points solar consumers there and, if the business was a New Energy Tech Consumer Code approved seller or a Solar Accreditation Australia accredited installer, to those bodies' complaint processes as well. Honest caveat: if the company has been fully liquidated there may be no solvent entity left for a regulator to act against, so a complaint is often more useful either before the company fully collapses or when the target is the manufacturer or a separate installing entity rather than the dissolved shell. The ACCC handles systemic, industry-wide conduct rather than individual disputes.
Possibly, if you paid by credit or debit card and the goods or services were never delivered because the business became insolvent. A chargeback asks your bank to reverse the card payment, and it can be a faster path than the liquidation queue. But it is time-limited — card-scheme windows commonly run in the order of 120 days from the transaction or from when you expected delivery — so contact your bank immediately rather than waiting on the liquidation. Chargebacks generally apply to card payments, not bank transfers, and are decided by the card scheme's rules, not guaranteed. If your bank declines, you can escalate to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).
Pull together everything you can find: the original sales contract or quote, the tax invoice and proof of payment, the installation date, and — most importantly — the make, model and serial numbers of your panels, inverter and battery, plus the manufacturers' warranty documents. Photos of the equipment labels, your inverter's monitoring app, any Small-scale Technology Certificate (STC) paperwork and the electrical certificate of compliance all help establish what was installed and when. If you are missing serial numbers, a new accredited installer can usually read them off the hardware during a site visit. Good records turn a frustrating claim into a straightforward one.
Where these facts come from.
The rights, bodies and timeframes on this page are drawn from official and authoritative Australian sources and were current as at 2026. Rules and card-scheme windows change — confirm at the source before relying on a figure.
- ACCC — Warranties & consumer guarantees (incl. manufacturer liability)
- ACCC — When a business goes bust (chargebacks & unsecured-creditor claims)
- Australian Consumer Law — Consumer guarantees guide (consumer.gov.au)
- energy.gov.au — Solar dispute resolution paths
- Solar Accreditation Australia — Check installer accreditation status
- Solar Accreditation Australia — Complaints process
- Clean Energy Regulator — Rooftop solar & battery complaints information
- Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) — Chargebacks factsheet