Defective Solar System Installation

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Maelly

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Hi all.

Just seeking your advice and guidance here.

Summary:
I subscribed to a rental/subscription solar system from Service provider (not mentioning the company name) - system fully installed on 28 April 2023. Due to an installation/ configuration defect the system has not been delivering the "promised bill savings" — municipal billing treated generation as grid consumption. After remedial re-wiring by Service provider— they proposed 4 months reimbursement - which I believe is inadequate.

Key facts & timeline:
Agreement: Subscription/rental (April 2023).
Data request to review full year plant production: 8 Jan 2026. Jan - Dec 2015 report estimates ~57% average grid savings (i.e., ~43% grid use only).
Billed reality: Municipal invoices shows averaged 894 kWh/month;
Applying the 43% grid usage above — conservative calculation shows overpayment ≈ R30,000 for the period.
Joint diagnostics: 28 Jan 2026 – technicians from Service provider and Municipality. Municipality recorded small grid exports (deemed as consumption — recommended a bidirectional meter). Service provider disputed export at inverter level.
Remedial works: 5 Feb 2026 – after escalation, Service provider deployed QA and Installation teams to perform re-wiring and re-configuration (remedial re-installation) — without the need for a bidirectional meter. This suggests that the original installation/configuration was defective — an admission by Services provider (though they would not say so).
Reimbursement offer: 24 Feb 2026 – offered 3 months subscription suspension. Immediately declined and countered with full 13-month suspension for Jan-2025→Jan-2026 (or termination without de-installation fees).
26 Feb 2026 – final offer of 4 months suspension. I declined!
Desired outcome: initially I just wanted a reimbursement for January 2025 to January 2026. But now given that the Service provider seems to be negotiating in bad faith - I now need a termination plus full reimbursement for all payments/ subscriptions since installation (after all this system has been defective since it was installed - otherwise they would not have had to do the re-installation or offer the 4 months suspension).

Current status: already briefed this to legal advice; lodged a complaint on CSGO; Wendy Knowler; etc.
Any thoughts on my prospects on this, and what other avenues to pursue?

Thanks.
 
It will depend on what form the "promised bill savings" took. What does it say in the contract?

Also out of curiosity why did it take nearly 3 years to realise you were not saving what you expected?

Also to what extent do you have ChatGPT involved?
 
I'm not sure what I'm reading? I'm rambly but this is wow.
Remember that solar isn't a magic bullet, you need to actually know your usage what is and isn't connected. What is the cut over for battery to grid etc.
Most of the rent solar systems set it to 50% cause they want to keep batteries "healthy" but your savings are minimal.
1. What is your overall usage.
2. How big is the install
3. What is connected
4. When do you switch from battery to grid
 
Lupus said:
I'm not sure what I'm reading? I'm rambly but this is wow.
Remember that solar isn't a magic bullet, you need to actually know your usage what is and isn't connected. What is the cut over for battery to grid etc.
Most of the rent solar systems set it to 50% cause they want to keep batteries "healthy" but your savings are minimal.
1. What is your overall usage.
2. How big is the install
3. What is connected
4. When do you switch from battery to grid
Click to expand...
Good luck getting any info. Wont even name the company. Just walk away.
 
Maelly said:
Hi all.

Just seeking your advice and guidance here.

…..

Thanks.
Click to expand...

That’s a ramble and GPT was bored, so I got it to fix whatever this is.

Hi all,

I’m seeking advice and guidance regarding a solar subscription dispute.

Summary

I entered into a rental/subscription agreement for a solar system in April 2023. The system was fully installed on 28 April 2023. Due to what appears to have been an installation/configuration defect, the system did not deliver the promised municipal bill savings. Municipal billing treated generated energy as grid consumption.

After remedial re-wiring by the service provider, they offered four months’ subscription suspension as reimbursement, which I believe is inadequate.

Key Facts & Timeline

Agreement:
Subscription/rental agreement commenced April 2023.


Production data request:
8 January 2026 – I requested full-year plant production data for review.


The January–December 2025 report estimates approximately 57% average grid savings (i.e., ~43% grid usage).

Billed reality:
Municipal invoices show an average of 894 kWh per month.


Applying the 43% grid usage (conservatively), the estimated overpayment is approximately R30,000 for the relevant period.

Joint diagnostics:
28 January 2026 – Technicians from both the service provider and the municipality attended site.

The municipality recorded small grid exports that were treated as consumption and recommended installation of a bidirectional meter.

The service provider disputed the export readings at inverter level.

Remedial works:
5 February 2026 – Following escalation, the service provider deployed QA and installation teams to re-wire and re-configure the system.

No bidirectional meter was required after this intervention.

This strongly suggests that the original installation/configuration was defective.

Reimbursement offer:
24 February 2026 – The provider offered a three-month subscription suspension.

I declined and countered with a 13-month suspension (January 2025 to January 2026), or termination without de-installation fees.

26 February 2026 – Final offer of four months’ suspension, which I declined.

Desired Outcome

Initially, I sought reimbursement for the period January 2025 to January 2026.

However, given the apparent defect from installation and what I consider inadequate remediation and negotiation, I am now seeking termination of the agreement together with full reimbursement of subscription payments made since installation.

Current Status
  • Legal advice has been consulted
  • Complaint lodged with the CSGO
  • Matter shared with Wendy Knowler

I would appreciate views on the strength of my position and any additional avenues I should consider.

Thank you.
Click to expand...
 
All comments noted and appreciated.
Just to adress some of the key ones here - to avoid responding to evry reply:
  1. Bill savings - perhaps a lack of a better phrasing, in all intense and purposes the system is meant to safegurd against annual annual eskom increases, and also if used optimally you should generally see some savings (reduced electricity bill + avoid annual increases).
  2. 3 years to realise this - many various reasons, i.e., perhaps not initially used optimally, you may have had temporarily more people living with you at that time etc. Either way, think of it of sayingh having a "latent defect" of some sort - these thjoings can happen.
  3. From Lupus - the main thing is the usage, and I have captured this under OP that it's roughly 894 Kwh per month. Having said that, it's a 5Kw system. Connected - all but the stove (by the way I bought a gas stove in 2025), geyser (switch installed to optimise usage) and pool.
  4. Name of company - come on guys that would be unfair of me to do so at this stage.
key facts:
  • the Service provider report sgtates that my average grid usage is 43%. This is material - a 57% savings on 894 monthly usage is pretty decent. It was established that this was not being realised because the municipality argues that the system was feeding into the grid.
  • the municipality advised that I get a biderectional meter.
  • to remedy this - the Service provcider came to do the reinstallation (a full half-a-day job re-wiring and reconfiguration of the system) - why is that, if their system was working well?
  • no biderctional meter installed - just re-installation of the system.
  • further, they offered a 4 months reimbursement.
Surely there's something here?
 
Last edited:
What I don't understand is what does the municipality and bidirectional meters have anything to do with it, are you not able to manage the inverter and solar usage on your side and realise the savings you want?
 
TheChamp said:
What I don't understand is what does the municipality and bidirectional meters have anything to do with it, are you not able to manage the inverter and solar usage on your side and realise the savings you want?
Click to expand...
People who rent solar are clueless about these things otherwise they would never rent in the first place because thats a stupid thing to do. Probably uses all the power at night and solar sits idle all day after the battery is charged by 9am. Its easy to not export to the grid with a setting.
 
I’d get them to cover 6 months and call it case closed, once all your legal fees and stress of the whole situation is factored in you are probably not going to make much more than that if you try take it all the way.
 
wingnut771 said:
People who rent solar are clueless about these things otherwise they would never rent in the first place because thats a stupid thing to do. Probably uses all the power at night and solar sits idle all day after the battery is charged by 9am. Its easy to not export to the grid with a setting.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think there is also a lot of promising that happened on the side of the solar provider, and a good level of incompetence in explaining how the whole thing is going to work.

Does it look like the supply is post paid? Maybe it was a bad idea from the beginning not to move to to prepaid as soon as the solar was installed.
 
TheChamp said:
What I don't understand is what does the municipality and bidirectional meters have anything to do with it, are you not able to manage the inverter and solar usage on your side and realise the savings you want?
Click to expand...
Municipality (electricity bill from the municipality). The system is not configured to feed to the grid (this is managed on the inverter). However the municipality advised that the system was when they came to run the diagnostic together with the Service provider. As a matter of fact the Service provider said that the feed in was immaterial/ negligible (some 0.0.0.1% is something). Still the municipality said this interfered with the billing hence all usage was deemed grid usage. As such they recommend a bidirectional meter.

The Service provider conceded to this hence they did the rewiring etc etc. - without needing to install a bidirectional meter (as explained earlier).

To this end no savings was realised due to this supposed feed in/ billing interference - which the Service provider conceded to.
 
Were you issued a COC ?
What is teh make and model of the inverter ?
What province are you in ?
 
Maelly said:
Municipality (electricity bill from the municipality). The system is not configured to feed to the grid (this is managed on the inverter). However the municipality advised that the system was when they came to run the diagnostic together with the Service provider. As a matter of fact the Service provider said that the feed in was immaterial/ negligible (some 0.0.0.1% is something). Still the municipality said this interfered with the billing hence all usage was deemed grid usage. As such they recommend a bidirectional meter.

The Service provider conceded to this hence they did the rewiring etc etc. - without needing to install a bidirectional meter (as explained earlier).

To this end no savings was realised due to this supposed feed in/ billing interference - which the Service provider conceded to.
Click to expand...
I doubt the feed in is your biggest problem though, are you on post paid? If yes are you able to switch to prepaid?
 
TheChamp said:
Yeah, I think there is also a lot of promising that happened on the side of the solar provider, and a good level of incompetence in explaining how the whole thing is going to work.

Does it look like the supply is post paid? Maybe it was a bad idea from the beginning not to move to to prepaid as soon as the solar was installe- in hindsight yes. That would have been the best option.
Click to expand...
Having said that, if the system gets me a 57% average savings indeed that it probably wouldn't matter that much whether it's prepaid or postpaid.
TheChamp said:
Yeah, I think there is also a lot of promising that happened on the side of the solar provider, and a good level of incompetence in explaining how the whole thing is going to work.

Does it look like the supply is post paid? Maybe it was a bad idea from the beginning not to move to to prepaid as soon as the solar was installed.
Click to expand...
Did you mean to say "Prepaid", cause I am on Postpaid?

They actually said had I was on Prepaid I would not have had these issues.

Just also to touch on the comment about people who rent solar are clueless and that ist a stupid thing - can we just respect people's choices. Each for themselves. Let's rather tackle the issue at hand than name-calling.
 
airborne said:
I’d get them to cover 6 months and call it case closed, once all your legal fees and stress of the whole situation is factored in you are probably not going to make much more than that if you try take it all the way.
Click to expand...
Thanks mate. Just weighing up my options to see what maximum I can get.
 
I also don't understand the setup as far as savings on the system is concerned, why are you applying formulas to the bill? Because it is supposed to have already accounted for the solar usage on your side?
 
TheChamp said:
I doubt the feed in is your biggest problem though, are you on post paid? If yes are you able to switch to prepaid?
Click to expand...
I hear you, and that's what I said. But can't argue with their technicians right.
I do intend moving to Prepaid now that I know.
But first I just need to get whatever "proportionate" maximum reimbursement that I can get.
 
TheChamp said:
Since you are now talking about recoveries, is the system fixed and would you realise your savings going forward?
Click to expand...
Well, "re-installation" (rewiring etc) was only done mid February - and they reckon all fixed. I will only see any potential savings when I get the municipality bill (electricity) which runs a full month behind.
But I'm done - I want to terminate and walk away. But I want them to waive the termination fees. Hence seeking all this advice and guidance
 
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