{"id":34246,"date":"2019-10-28T14:40:48","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T04:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=34246"},"modified":"2021-04-07T15:28:44","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T04:58:44","slug":"electrical-licenses-solar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/electrical-licenses-solar\/","title":{"rendered":"What Licences Are Needed To Sell Solar in Australia?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Licenses

Is your company licensed to sell solar power in all the states & territories it operates in? Are you sure?<\/p><\/div>\n

Note:<\/strong> When I say ‘selling solar’ I mean selling residential solar systems including installation.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

At SolarQuotes, we constantly get applications from solar companies across Australia hoping to join our network.<\/p>\n

Today we received a promising application from New South Wales. It was a 3 month-old company, founded by two experienced installers. The installers had been operating as sole traders for many years and had decided to take the next step: forming a company. They had a website up and running and were out selling and installing solar, trading as the new company. They appeared to have lots of happy customers.<\/p>\n

But I quickly spotted a showstopper of a problem with their application…<\/p>\n

Close to the top of the (annoyingly long) SolarQuotes installer application form, it asks for the entity’s electrical contracting licence. The installers had entered their two individual contractors licences but did not have an electrical contractors licence for the new company.<\/p>\n

In NSW, a company is simply not allowed to sell solar under any electrical (or building) contractors licence other than the company’s.<\/p>\n

So if the contract to sell solar was through the new company, they had been selling without the proper licence.<\/p>\n

We advised the applicant of this and I expect they’ll get licensed up ASAP. \u00a0They can reapply under the company licence and we’ll continue with our full vetting procedure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We are finding that this situation happens all too often. Nine times out of ten the company is simply unaware of the rules surrounding electrical contracting and companies, and there is a happy ending. Occasionally they haven’t got a licence because they don’t care about such technicalities, and those companies are placed on the infamous (and very long) SolarQuotes Blacklist\u2122. It’s a list we’ve been compiling for 10 years.<\/p>\n

At SolarQuotes, the last thing we want to do is refer a customer to a solar company that is not properly licensed; so we have to be aware of the rules for all states and territories. This blog post explains – to the best of my knowledge – exactly what licences are required to sell solar power and which entities need them in each state or territory.<\/p>\n

But before I get into the nuts and bolts of licensing and business entities, I’ll first go through the types of business entities that can operate in Australia.\u00a0 That’s the starting point for everything and I’ve learned many consumers (and a few young players in the solar industry) can find it all a bit confusing.<\/p>\n

What Types Of Business Entities Can Become A Solar Company?<\/h2>\n

If you (legally) buy solar in Australia it will almost certainly be from one of the following business entities:<\/p>\n