Solar power inquiry conducted by Senate to shine spotlight on complaints with retailers

Updated

A Senate inquiry is expected to hear from hundreds of Australians who have been hit with high costs and hidden fees after switching to solar power.

A group called Solar Citizens collected 500 complaints from households around the country, mostly about the big three power retailers AGL, Energy Australia and Origin.

"Solar owners face unfair or hidden fees on their electricity bills, also large service fees when they install their solar systems in some cases, and also exorbitant fees in rural areas for people connecting up to the grid," national director Claire O'Rourke said.

Nearly 1.3 million Australian households have installed solar panels with the aim of being green and saving money. They anticipated the investment would drastically reduce electricity bills.

But Victorian couple Cas and Chris O'Neill said while they loved having the panels, they had not enjoyed the drama with AGL over the bills.

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"It was like working against a system designed by Kafka," Mr O'Neill said.

The couple said they battled with AGL over billing problems for more than a decade.

The biggest issue was a secret cut to the rate they were paid to feed power back to the grid.

After taking their case to the Energy Ombudsman, the O'Neills received an apology from AGL and about $3,000 in compensation.

Retired engineer Athol Park was another unhappy customer.

He said he thought he would be able to pay off his $19,000 solar system quickly.

He signed up with Origin four years ago to get paid what he thought would be about 60 cents per kilowatt for his excess electricity.

But Origin said it never received his paperwork for that rate and in the meantime the tariff dropped.

"In the end Origin sent me a letter and said, 'Look, the cut-off date for 31 cents is such and such, you either take 31 cents or you get nothing ... we're not negotiating further'," Mr Park said.

The Energy Retailers Association said it was an adjustment phase for the industry and it understood customers were sometimes unhappy.

"No way are the retailers their enemy. In many cases they are offering deals to buy the excess electricity to go back into the grid," spokesman Cameron O'Reilly said.

"Those customers need to know they have a choice of retailers; they should shop around."

The inquiry stopped taking submissions in December. It is expected to hold public hearings next month and report back to Parliament in March.

Topics: solar-energy, alternative-energy, environment, royal-commissions, electricity-energy-and-utilities, australia

First posted