How to choose a solar installer in Perth: SAA accreditation and the checks that matter

Most of what an installer tells you about itself can be checked against a public register in under ten minutes. Start with whether the person doing the work is an SAA accredited installer. The business's electrical licence, consumer-code membership, rebate-scheme approval and trading history sit on official search pages too, and none of them costs anything to use.

Solar Battery Perth does not install anything. Installers pay a flat referral fee for each lead they accept through this site, the same for every installer, so the checks below apply to any company you are considering, including one you found here.

What should you check before you sign?

Check the nine items in the table, in the order they appear, before you sign anything; every one has a public register or a document behind it.

Anything the company cannot supply is the first question on your next call.

Who holds the accreditation, the person or the company?

The person. Solar Accreditation Australia accredits individuals, so a company cannot be "SAA accredited" in its own right. It can employ or subcontract accredited people, and the one whose name goes on your system is the one to check.

SAA became the accreditation scheme operator on 29 February 2024, when the Clean Energy Regulator approved it to take over from the Clean Energy Council. The Council finalised its last installer compliance activity on 29 May 2024. A company still describing its installers as "CEC accredited" is using a label that no longer exists. Ask it for the current SAA number.

The scheme accredits people in three classes, grid-connected solar (GCPV), grid-connected battery systems (GCBS) and stand-alone power systems, and within each class a person can hold design only, install only, or design and install. For a home battery on the Perth grid, the person must hold the battery class. The Clean Energy Regulator only issues the federal certificates that fund the upfront discount when the battery was installed by an SAA-accredited installer with the battery endorsement, its name for the GCBS class. Solar accreditation alone does not cover it.

To verify, use SAA's accreditation status check. It takes either the accreditation number or the person's first and last name and returns whether the accreditation is current. Ask for the installer's details before you pay a deposit, not on the installation day.

Does the installer also need a WA electrical licence?

Yes. The licence is a separate check from accreditation. WA law requires all electrical work to be done by a person holding the relevant electrical licence, and a licensed electrical contractor must employ licensed electricians to do that work. Solar and battery installation is electrical work, so the licence is a legal requirement. Accreditation is not: a licensed contractor can lawfully install a system without it, but the federal certificate discount and the WA scheme both require an accredited installer, so a subsidised install needs both.

The business's licence is the electrical contractor's licence, shown as an EC number. The licensing regulations require that number to be displayed in any advertisement for the contracting business, so it should already be on the company's website and quote; if it is not, ask why. Consumer Protection WA's advice for battery-scheme buyers is to ask for the number of whoever will be on the roof and at the switchboard, which may be a subcontractor rather than the company that sold you the system. If a subcontractor is doing the install, ask for its EC number too.

Then run the number through the WA Online Licence Search operated by Building and Energy, typing the prefix in full, so "EC" followed by the digits. Building and Energy does not publish business or trading names, so if the licence holder's name does not match the brand on the quote, the ASIC register (check 5) is where the two get reconciled.

What does NETCC Approved Seller status tell you?

It tells you the retailer has signed up to a consumer-protection code that governs how it sells, quotes, contracts and handles complaints, and that it can be reported to the code administrator if it breaks those rules. The New Energy Tech Consumer Code is voluntary. It replaced the Clean Energy Council's Approved Solar Retailer program on 1 February 2023, and the Council administers it. Approved Sellers can be found by suburb or by name on the NETCC site.

The quote must state the deposit and the total price including taxes, and the price must hold for at least ten business days. A quote that expires "today" is not a code-compliant quote.

Warranties have to be spelled out in the contract: a statement that your rights under the contractual warranty sit on top of your consumer guarantees and are not replaced by them, and the supplier's contact details in case you need to pursue a guarantee claim against the maker.

A minimum retailer's warranty on operation and performance including workmanship also goes into the contract, for a period the administrator sets. For a whole solar system the code's technical guidance puts that floor at five years. For batteries the guidance asks the seller to state parts and labour periods separately without fixing a number, so ask what the retailer's own period is on the battery.

From 1 October 2025 every WA Residential Battery Scheme vendor has to be a NETCC Approved Seller, so a company on the Plenti list (check 4) has already passed this check. An updated version of the code takes effect on 1 December 2026. It widens the misleading-claims rule to every statement a seller makes and requires quotes to spell out fees and refund terms.

Is the vendor approved for the WA Residential Battery Scheme?

Check the vendor directory on Plenti's site; if the company is not on it, neither the WA rebate nor the no-interest loan is available for your install. The scheme pays the rebate to the approved vendor, and the vendor lodges the application for you; there is no household application form.

Plenti administers the scheme for the WA Government. Its directory is updated daily and shown in random order. Approval requires six months of trading in the WA solar and battery market, a WA business address and a solvent business. The vendor must also hold professional indemnity and public liability insurance with certificates of currency filed, be a NETCC Approved Seller, and use installers who are licensed electricians with SAA battery accreditation. Approval can be withdrawn: the Government suspended one vendor in February 2026 and moved its affected customers to other approved vendors through Plenti.

For a Synergy customer the scheme figures are:

Under the scheme rules the vendor, not you, is responsible for confirming that the exact inverter model code on your quote is listed under DER-Storage on the Supported Solutions List on the day you sign, and that the battery and inverter are compatible for your house. Ask for both in writing. Every eligibility step is in the WA rebate eligibility checklist; the list mechanics are in Synergy Supported Solutions List explained, the virtual power plant side in Synergy Battery Rewards, and the next federal step-down in rebate timelines and the January step-down.

Which warranty covers what, and who honours it?

Consumer guarantees are honoured by the business you bought from, the workmanship warranty by the retailer that signed the contract, and the product warranty by the manufacturer or its Australian importer.

The guarantees come first because a business cannot contract out of them. Consumer guarantees are automatic and cannot be taken away, and the seller cannot refuse to help by telling you to contact the manufacturer. A warranty is an extra promise on top. A 25-year workmanship warranty, to use Consumer Protection WA's example, only guarantees the quality of the installation; it says nothing about how long the equipment will last, and it is only worth what the company can honour in year ten. A product warranty from a maker with no Australian office or importer is just as hard to claim.

Before you sign, get these in writing: who you ring first, the retailer or the maker; whether a warranty visit carries a call-out fee; whether the company has an Australian office or the importer carries the product warranty; and what the battery warranty ends on, years, cycles or energy throughput. The mechanics of years, cycles and throughput are in how battery warranties work, and the claim process is in making a battery warranty claim.

What paperwork should the installer hand over?

Western Power's approval to operate, the Electrical Safety Certificate, the Notice of Completion reference, and the serial numbers and commissioning photos.

Western Power approval. Every new inverter system or added battery on the Perth grid needs an Embedded Generation Connection application, and the system can only be switched on once Western Power issues an approval to operate. The homeowner is responsible for the connection, but you can authorise the installer to apply for you. Ask for the application reference so you can track it, and confirm the system meets the WA connection rules from 1 May 2026, which changed what new systems must support.

Electrical Safety Certificate. The electrical contractor must give you this after the work. It is your proof the installation was tested and certified under WA electrical law.

Notice of Completion. The contractor lodges this with Western Power within three days of finishing notifiable electrical work, and solar or battery installation is notifiable. The Clean Energy Regulator has required a copy of the Notice of Completion with the certificate assignment form since 24 December 2020, so a missing notice can stall the federal discount as well as being a breach on the contractor's side.

Serial numbers and commissioning photos. The regulator requires photographic evidence of battery labelling and circuit marking with every certificate claim, and its 2026 inspection results, covered in battery installation quality crackdown, list labelling as the most common fault. The rebate paperwork and proofs page lists what to keep.

How do you check a company's age, structure and address?

Start with ABN Lookup and the ASIC registers, both free, and read what they show against the questions Consumer Protection WA publishes for battery-scheme buyers.

ABN Lookup shows whether an ABN is active or cancelled, the entity type, the registration date and historical trading names, with no login. On the ASIC registers you find the company behind a trading name, its status and its registration date. Read them together: the brand on the quote, the trading name on ABN Lookup and the company on ASIC should line up, and the registration date should match the years of experience the company advertises. Consumer Protection's example is a business operating for two years and advertising twenty years' experience.

Both retailers and installers in the WA Residential Battery Scheme must have a Western Australian address, meaning a physical presence such as an office or showroom. A post office box or a residential address on the quote is allowed. Consumer Protection WA reads it as a sign that a third party may be doing the installation, so ask for that party's EC number.

Is the business insured?

Public liability insurance is a condition of the WA electrical contractor's licence, so a licensed contractor holds a policy. Ask for a certificate of currency and check the name on it matches the licence holder. Scheme vendors go further: they must file certificates of currency for both professional indemnity and public liability insurance with Plenti to be approved. Whether solar-only work needs home indemnity insurance in WA is not spelled out in Building and Energy's published guidance, so ask the company what cover applies if the work damages your roof or switchboard, and get the answer in the contract.

How do you read reviews without being led?

A star average says nothing about how the company handled a warranty claim in year four, and that is the review worth finding: filter for the words "warranty", "fault" or "claim" and read those in full.

Under the ACCC's rules, creating fake reviews or arranging them is against the law. An incentive for a review must be offered whether the review turns out positive or negative, and the review must say it was incentivised. Removing or failing to correct reviews a business knows to be fake may be a breach too.

Treat a review page with no negative reviews at all, or a run of five-star reviews posted in the same week, as a page whose reviews may have been curated.

Consumer Protection WA also warns about quote websites. Some sites offer "multiple quotes from different installers" where every installer is run by the same company. Before you treat two quotes as independent, cross-check the companies for overlapping ABNs, addresses or electrical licence numbers. The same test applies to Solar Battery Perth. The installers we match you with are listed in our installer directory, and the referral fee is disclosed on every match. Ask each one for its ABN and EC number on the quote, then run them through the same registers before you sign.

Where do you complain if it goes wrong?

Route the complaint by what went wrong. Go to the company first in writing in every case, because each body below will ask whether you did.

• Contract, price, refund or misleading claims: Consumer Protection WA, which runs a free conciliation service between you and the trader.
• Electrical safety or licensing: Building and Energy, the WA electrical regulator.
• A NETCC Approved Seller breaking the code: the code administrator at the Clean Energy Council, through the NETCC complaint form. New cases were waiting up to eight weeks before investigation as at September 2026.
• An accredited installer's technical non-compliance: SAA's reporting form, which covers standards breaches but not contractual or financial disputes, and not systems commissioned more than five years ago.
• Not the Clean Energy Regulator: it acts against agents who create certificates fraudulently, but it does not take consumer complaints about retailers, designers or installers.

If the sale was unsolicited, a doorknock or a cold call, you have ten business days after signing to cancel without penalty, and that period stretches to three months if the salesperson broke the contact rules, such as calling outside permitted hours or not identifying the business. The agreement itself must carry the cooling-off terms and a form you can use to cancel.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check whether an installer is SAA accredited?

Use SAA's "Check Installer Accreditation Status" page. Enter the accreditation number, or the installer's first and last name, and it returns whether the accreditation is current. Ask for the number of the person who will do the installation, not the salesperson.

Is CEC accreditation still valid?

No. The Clean Energy Council stopped accrediting installers when SAA took over on 29 February 2024, and finalised its compliance work on 29 May 2024. Every accredited installer now holds an SAA accreditation. Ask for the SAA number.

Do I need the installer to be on the Plenti vendor list?

Only if you want the WA rebate or the scheme loan. The rebate is paid to the approved vendor, which lodges the application for you, so a company outside the list cannot deliver it. From 1 October 2025 every approved vendor must also be a NETCC Approved Seller.

What is the difference between a workmanship warranty and a product warranty?

The workmanship warranty is the retailer's promise about the installation itself, and the product warranty is the manufacturer's promise about the panel, inverter or battery. Both sit on top of your consumer guarantees, which are automatic and which the business you bought from has to honour without sending you to the maker.

Does a bigger company or a longer warranty make the install safer?

Neither on its own. The checks that predict a safe installation are the individual installer's SAA accreditation in the right class, a current EC licence, and the Notice of Completion and Electrical Safety Certificate being issued afterwards. A long warranty from a company that closes is worth nothing, so the registration date on ABN Lookup belongs in the same check.

Where next

Where to place a battery in a Perth home

AS/NZS 5139 clearance rules, garage vs outdoor walls, and what installers check on-site.

How to size a battery for your usage

A step-by-step method covering evening usage and seasonal AC demand.

Synergy Battery Rewards: what the VPP pays

Activation events credit 70¢/kWh on top of DEBS exports, and signing up is a WA rebate condition.

Explore your options

Answer a few questions and see systems and installers that fit your home.