Hello All; I don't think I've posted on the social boards before but just had to share this little gem that happened yesterday...
To cut a long story short, hubby bought solar panels from True Value Solar. Had to pay by bank cheque. Due for installation between 7am & 10am yesterday. They finally arrived (after many calls) at 1.30pm. Installation proceeded promptly, techs were helpful (despite not knowing which direction North was!) & all paperwork supposedly received. Cost was $2700, but we figured this would be a saving in the long run, as we are approaching retirement age & electricity bills for us are currently around $85 per month.
We were asked to contact our energy supplier (In this case Lumo) who would then contact SP Ausnet & we would be attached to feed back into the grid when our useage was less than our already small bills.
Therein lies the comedy of errors! 4pm Melb time - Lumo call centre in Mumbai India. Almost incoherent fellow who's name sounded like Ganesh told us we needed to email 3 forms to Lumo. I ended up using the Alpha Foxtrot Bravo etc trying to establish which of the huge pile of forms were needed to be sent. (Still a little iffy on these requirements - so hasn't been done yet as I'm not sure I got the email addy correct & can't work out which forms are needed)
Then he joyfully told me Lumo will charge $80 to $300 to connect us to the grid!??? What The??? But I can pay it off on my bill & they might get there in about Feb to look at my Smartmeter.
Not at any stage were we told it would cost us to setup to feed energy back into the grid! So now we have solar panels, an inverter & no hookup! (Nor prospect of it happening anytime soon & without cost!) What a crock!
Has this sort of thing happened to anyone else? True Value led us to believe a simple phone call would be all that was needed to inform Lumo of the solar panels, & that Lumo in turn would contact SP Ausnet (the main supplier) & all would be good by tomorrow (now today)
