Solar advertising
rules.

'Your battery pays for itself in four years' is a prediction. The ACCC says a claim about the future must have reasonable grounds at the time you make it, and you need to be able to show them. For solar, that means a calculation from real usage, tariffs and feed-in rates, with the assumptions written down, not a number from last year's brochure.

'Free' is the other trap. The ACCC says a 'free' offer is likely to mislead if conditions apply or an extra payment sits in the fine print, and that qualifications can't contradict the main message. 'Free battery' when the buyer pays for panels, an inverter upgrade or finance falls straight into it.

The test the ACCC applies is the overall impression. If a reasonable person in Tuggerah reads the ad and thinks the battery costs nothing, the asterisk doesn't save it.

The battery discount isn't a cheque from Canberra. The installer or its agent creates certificates (STCs) and passes the value on as a discount, and households generally don’t apply to the government directly. 'Government rebate' isn't banned, but ads that make you sound like the government, or promise everyone the same amount, are asking for trouble. The ACCC listed misstating eligibility for government programs among the misleading conduct it found.

Dates matter as much as words. The CER says the discount is determined by the installation date, not when a contract is signed, and warned retailers not to promise installs before a change unless they're certain. It also said deceptive behaviour 'will not be tolerated' and that it reports retailers to fair trading bodies.

In NSW, watch for one stale line in particular. NSW's own battery installation incentive is suspended, and can’t be combined with the federal program, after the state announced in June 2025 that it would stop the installation incentive from 1 July 2025. The NSW incentive for joining a virtual power plant (VPP) continues. 'Stack the NSW and federal battery rebates' is now wrong.

Paste in a Facebook ad, a flyer or a landing page. The scan flags the solar wording that most often gets businesses into trouble, and tells you why.

Unsolicited selling is legal, with rules. Door-to-door visits are allowed weekdays 9am to 6pm and Saturdays 9am to 5pm, and calls weekdays 9am to 8pm and Saturdays 9am to 5pm, never on Sundays or public holidays. Salespeople must give their name, the business and why they're there, leave when asked, and treat a 'do not knock' sign as a request to leave. After being asked to go, the business can't come back for 30 days.

On any sale over $100, the buyer gets 10 business days to cancel, and you can't take payment or start the install during that time. Break the contact rules and the cooling-off stretches to three months. Skip the written agreement or the cooling-off notice and it can stretch to six.

The ACCC's July 2026 research found widespread non-compliance with these rules, with only 54% of buyers given a written agreement. It recommended stronger penalties than the current $50,000 maximum for a company, and an opt-in model to replace the cooling-off period. Outside NSW, rules can be tighter: Victoria has banned door-to-door sales by businesses in Solar Victoria programs since 1 September 2021.

Buying leads from a quote site or a lead seller is common in solar. It doesn't move the legal risk. The ACMA says that if you buy a list, you are still responsible for making sure you have consent for every address you message, and every commercial email or text needs your business name and an unsubscribe that works within five working days.

For calls, numbers on the Do Not Call Register can only be called with consent or an exemption. The regulator has fined lead generators before: one company paid a $285,600 infringement notice in 2018 for lead calls about products including electricity, without checking the register.

Ask any lead seller three things before you pay: where the lead came from, what the person consented to, and whether they're sold to other installers too. If they can't answer the first two in writing, don't buy.

In NSW, advertising for electrical work needs a current contractor licence, and the licensee’s name and licence number must appear in all advertising, in print, online and elsewhere. That includes your Facebook ads, your Google Business Profile description and the side of the ute.

Badges cause more trouble than people expect. The Clean Energy Council's Approved Solar Retailer program ran from 2013 to 2023 and was replaced by the New Energy Tech Consumer Code. Installers are now accredited by Solar Accreditation Australia, and the CEC keeps the approved product lists. 'CEC approved retailer' on a 2026 ad is out of date at best.

The code itself is changing. A compliance consultancy reports the ACCC reauthorised it in August 2026, with an updated code due from 1 December 2026. If you're an approved seller, check what changes before your next campaign.