Buy now, pay later operators in the solar industry say an Australian Competition Tribunal decision that the products benefit the economy and do not result in consumer harm will lift adoption of new energy technology and encourage ASIC to assess the sector based consumer outcomes.

Finding in favour of FlexiGroup, whose product Humm has financed 10 per cent of all solar systems in the country, the tribunal rejected the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's call for installers to ensure providers of the interest-free instalment products conduct responsible lending checks on customers, as set out in the credit laws. The ACCC wanted the additional protections included in the New Energy Tech Consumer Code.