Phase Shift: The Humans Strike Back

Right now, we’re riding high. A big battery rebate just dropped, and quote requests are flying in.

But I’ve been in solar long enough to know what this feels like. We’re at the top of the solar coaster.

The climb is sharp, and the view is great. But the drop is coming. When the adrenaline wears off, it’ll be clear what’s built on sand.

One thing that won’t survive the plunge: middlemen with no skin in the game.

If your entire business offers a list of system prices, unvetted installers, grey made-for-Google ‘content’, AI can already do that better.

In fact, any installer who is happy to commit to prices based solely on kW of solar and kWh of batteries soon won’t need to advertise on a comparison site at all. Just publish your prices on your own local business website and keep them up to date. AI will do the rest. It’ll crawl, sort, and serve them up directly to local customers searching for solar and battery prices in your area.

The Real World Is Complicated

The problem with that model is – real jobs are messy.

Solar installations are site-specific, and compliant battery installations can be even worse. There are switchboards older than me, nightmare cable runs, homes that require a mains upgrade or dynamic load management, wall space that isn’t there, windows in the wrong place, conduit runs that look obnoxious, fragile roof materials, dangerous heights, difficult access, wifi signals that don’t reach, and software updates that break more than they fix.

And AI, no matter how clever it gets, cannot read SolarQuotes’ Chief Electrician Anthony Bennett’s brain after he’s spent 20 minutes on the phone with a customer, working out why an otherwise brilliant installer is having dramas with split strings on an undocumented requirement for an otherwise great Sungrow inverter.

AI also can’t vet solar installers, I’ve tried hard to make it work – and it keeps sending me to businesses I know are on the SolarQuotes blacklist.

It’s human stuff that matters. And it’s that human stuff that makes SolarQuotes different.

We don’t just give you a few names and wish you luck. We religiously vet each installer and monitor them and their licences while they are a client. We also follow up with consumers and stay in the loop. We have about a dozen feedback loops that we constantly use to improve our recommendations and advice. And if things go tits-up with an installation and the referred installers won’t cooperate, SolarQuotes will step in and pay for the fix. That’s what the Good Installer Guarantee is for.

No AI will ever do that.

A site visit by a competent installer can help detect issues like, for instance, an enormous tree casting shade right where you want to install your solar panels.

There Are Some Things AI Can’t Handle

Yes, AI is coming. It will wipe out a lot of noise online, taking out the businesses that add no real value. But the businesses that stick around will be the ones who do what AI cannot: use human judgement, immerse themselves in the real world, show care, and take responsibility.

SolarQuotes is not just selling electrons. We’re helping fellow humans make decisions about their homes, their bills, and their peace of mind for the next 20 years. That still takes a team of people sitting (mostly) in Adelaide.

When the rebate spike ends, and the AI dust settles, SolarQuotes will still be here, with a human team that gives a damn, stands behind their advice, and fixes things when they go wrong.

Phase Shift is a weekly opinion column by SolarQuotes founder Finn Peacock. Subscribe to SolarQuotes’ free newsletter to get it emailed to your inbox each week along with our other home electrification coverage.