Nature of issue
My first complaint concerns the quantity and type of solar panels installed at my property. As per our contract and tax invoice (Ref no. 209006), NU Energy were to install 9 x 170W monocrystalline solar panels on my tiled roof. However, NU Energy installed without my consent 8 x 190W polycrystalline solar panels. Though I appreciate that both systems have the same capacity, monocrystalline panels are widely accepted to be more efficient than polycrystalline panels, particularly at higher temperatures which Melbourne tends to experience in summer. It was on this basis that I had specifically sought to have monocrystalline panels installed at my property and engaged NU Energy to install so accordingly. Furthermore, NU Energy has not reimbursed me the cost of the additional panel to date. My colleague had contracted with NU Energy around the same time as I to have the 190W polycrystalline panels installed at his property and his tax invoice lists an identical unit price for both panels ($900.00 plus GST). Seeing as I was supplied one less panel than I contracted for, I expect NU Energy to reimburse me the cost of this panel along with the proportionate difference in installation and material costs which I have calculated from my tax invoice to be as follows:
Inverter Panels: $8,910.00 x? 9 = $990.00
Installation (IN9PV) $648.00 x? 9 = $72.00
Materials (M9PV) $847.00 x? 9 = $94.00_
Total= $1,156.00
My second and perhaps more serious complaint is that following the installation of my solar generator system in June of NU Energy failed to submit the requisite forms to my electricity retailer for activation by my electricity distributor as agreed. This is something that has only come to my attention recently and has meant that I have not received any financial benefit from any electricity generated by my solar panels and fed back into the national grid for the past 2 years since installation, despite my $4,045.00 investment and despite rising electricity costs. This gross negligence and breach of duty of care owed to me by NU Energy has also exposed me to further financial damage in that I have now missed the state government’s deadline to apply for a Premium Feed-in Tariff. This would have guaranteed me 60 cents for each kilowatt hour of excess electricity generated by my solar panels and fed back into the national grid until 2024. Now I am only eligible to apply for an inferior Transitional Feed-in Tariff which only guarantees me 25 cents and only to the end of 2016 at that. As you can appreciate, this oversight on the part of NU Energy has exposed me to considerable financial disadvantage and loss and has impacted greatly upon the affordability of the solar generator system you marketed to me and upon the representations made to me by NU Energy at the time of sale. This is despite the fact that at the time of installation, the NU Energy installer assured me that NU Energy are responsible for the submission of forms on my behalf and despite the fact that they were able to do so for other clients.
Best regards,
Janusz Brzozowski
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