Expert Calls for NZ Solar Regulation as Complaints Surge 170% and Solar Zero Collapses

Professor Alex Sims, who teaches at the University of Auckland, says New Zealand should regulate its solar panel industry the way Australia does. Her argument rests on two developments: complaints about solar to the Utilities Dispute have risen by more than 170 percent over the past four years, and several well-known providers have collapsed. One of them is Solar Zero, among the country's largest residential solar businesses.

Sims says more households are weighing up solar, and that the problems will persist as they do. Governments in Australia have pushed solar for years, she says, and its market is more mature as a result. Australian authorities concluded that leaving disputes to ordinary resolution channels was not working. They now have a dedicated body and more regulation, and she thinks New Zealand should be looking at the same thing.

Her own interest in solar providers began with Solar Zero. Customers were locked into 20-year contracts, and the contracts restarted if they moved house. Sims has done a lot of work on unfair contract terms, and she says the arrangement struck her immediately as one. In her view it punished people for moving and gave the company a fresh stream of revenue from the same hardware. She believes the Commerce Commission should be acting on it.

Former Solar Zero customers now have their contracts serviced by SZ Servicing. They say the terms have changed radically: guaranteed pricing is gone, and their bills have risen sharply.

Sims says the decision to go solar is hard to get right because so much depends on individual circumstances. Materials vary in quality, and buyers must choose between leasing and purchasing. Location matters, as do the tilt of the roof and the orientation of the house. A system has to be designed carefully for the site, she says, and there is no point in panels that only catch sun in midsummer and not in winter. Household habits count too: how many people live there, and whether they will run the dishwasher in the middle of the day or change their fridge or freezer. A car is a car wherever you buy it, she says, but she can think of nothing else so dependent on particular circumstances.

Leasing can look attractive because it avoids an upfront cost of tens of thousands of dollars, but it ties people into long contracts. It also changes where a dispute can go. Because leasing companies supply ongoing electricity, lessees can take complaints to the Utilities Dispute. People who buy panels outright are left with traditional routes such as the Disputes Tribunal.

Selling a house can be complicated as well. Sims says she has heard reports that homes with leased panels are harder to sell, because incoming buyers do not want to take on the lease and its continuing payments.

Her advice to anyone considering solar is to ask around and read the contract closely. She suggests asking friends and family who have solar how they found dealing with their company. For now, the push for a dedicated regulator and Commerce Commission action on unfair terms is one expert's call, and the source does not report any official response.