Bob Emery, a retired electrician from Perth, paid a $1,000 deposit last October for a 48kwh battery system he hoped would cut his power bills. After months of delays and unanswered calls, he says the installer, Lux Solar, "can't be trusted."
"There are cowboys out there that are ripping people off and it is just not good enough," Mr Emery said. He unsuccessfully requested a refund and pursued his case with a consumer protection body and industry groups without resolution.
Mr Emery is one of a growing number of customers raising concerns as the Cheaper Home Batteries Program has sparked unprecedented demand. More than 530,000 batteries have been installed since July 2025, with the scheme covering estimated costs of more than $7.2 billion over four years.
The surge has coincided with a spike in complaints to federal and state watchdogs. The NSW energy and water ombudsman says complaints in that jurisdiction have doubled since last year. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has several investigations underway, South Australia has announced a crackdown on "dodgy solar companies," and Queensland's Office of Fair Trading confirmed Lux Solar is under investigation.
Lux Solar is the second solar company in as many months to be probed for allegedly charging customers deposits to install battery systems under the federal scheme that were never delivered.
In June, Lux Solar was removed from the voluntary industry-run New Energy Tech Consumer Code (NETCC) for "major failures," including continuing to take payments without showing it could deliver systems. Despite the Clean Energy Council requesting the wording be removed, the company has continued to advertise itself as an "approved seller" on its website.
Consumer advocate Erin Turner, CEO of the Consumer Policy Research Centre, called for the advertisement to be investigated. "That's really potentially misleading and I hope a regulator looks at it because that's a part of the consumer law where we can see really significant court actions with fines of up to $100 million," she said.
Mr Emery's experience illustrates the pattern: told in November that installation was two to four weeks away, he emailed the salesman for a refund two months later when no progress had been made. He was again told the "install team" would make contact within a week or two, then the salesman stopped answering calls.
"I realised I've blown my thousand dollars, so I started looking at government agencies that might be able to help," he said.