Victorian customers left fuming as solar rebate portal crashes after reopening

Homeowners and installers around the state are seething as tens of thousands of applications for the solar rebate scheme have been left unapproved after the online portal crashed.

The $1.3 billion solar homes scheme has reopened applications for the first time since the Andrews Government boosted rebate numbers — and has promptly crashed.

Thousands of extra rebates were offered this month after Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio conceded a cap on applications had sparked industry pain.

This meant that rebates worth up to $2225 were available to more than 5000 customers this month, compared to 3333 in previous months.

But the popularity of the scheme, which has seen tens of thousands of applications waiting for approval by Solar Victoria, has resulted in the online portal crashing.

Fuming customers are venting at installers who are powerless to process their applications, meaning both the household and company putting the panels on the roof may be left without work approved.

Owner of Essential Solar in Melbourne, David Bruce, after the August allocation for government-subsidised solar installations was exhausted in less than 90 minutes. Picture: Aaron Francis

Solar Victoria has posted online that it is “working to resolve the issues experienced this morning”.

“We are currently offline. To keep things fair we will let you know in advance before we re-open the September allocation,” it says on social media.

“Thank you for your patience.”

One installer told the Herald Sun that the company had been trying to upload documents all morning but were now hitting the phones to ensure customers knew about the issues.

The solar panel rebate scheme, which was an Andrews Government election commitment, will see up to 650,000 homes get rebates over the next decade.

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To put the brakes on the rollout and to ensure safety, the government has limited the number of rebates it offers every month.

Customers can get cash back plus an upfront load — also worth up to $2225 — for an average-sized panel system, so long as their property is not worth more than $3 million and the household does not earn more than $180,000 a year.

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