Australian solar panel retailers pulled up for false marketing claims

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has pulled up two solar panel system retailers for using false claims in their advertisements, which were likely to mislead or deceive consumers.

The retailers have amended their marketing campaigns after the intervention of the regulator.

In a court-enforceable undertaking provided to ACCC, Queensland Solar Systems and State Solar Services acknowledged that the ad was likely to mislead consumers and that they had contravened the Trade Practices Act 1974.

The contentious points in the advertising were:

1. Consumers could 'wipe out' household electricity bills by installing a 1.5kw solar panel system, when a system of that size was not likely to generate sufficient electricity to eliminate an average household's electricity costs.
   
2. The solar systems were available at heavily discounted prices, when, in fact, the retailers had never sold the systems at the higher prices or recommended retail prices (RRP) advertised.
   
3. The discounts were only available during limited sale periods, when the systems were always available at discount prices.

Also, it was not clear in the advertisements that the discounts were only available to customers who were eligible for federal government financial incentives in the form of renewable energy certificates.
 
Graeme Samuel, chairman, ACCC, said, ''Before businesses claim their products have environmental or financial benefits they should carefully consider whether those claims are accurate and ensure that they are able to be substantiated.''

''Businesses that advertise 'special' or mark-down prices by comparing their prices with a higher price or a RRP must also be able to prove that the comparisons are accurate and represent genuine savings to consumers that they would not get outside advertised 'sale' periods,'' substantiated Samuel in a release by ACCC.