We don't do cheap and nasty, it's just not something that we're prepared to do. We've been asked to do cheap and nasty quite a lot. We've been asked to reduce our price, to compete with other products that are out there that I know are not going to be around in two, three years time. It's just not something that our company want to put our name against. We've built this brand and this referral base of high quality, great installations, and we don't want to tarnish it. Yeah, there's huge differences in these solar systems. You can buy a solar system for $3,000 for a five to six kilowatt on TV, and if that solar system was free of charge I wouldn't purchase it. I wouldn't want to run the risk of having a rooftop fire, or have an isolator burning out, or have the junction box burning out on my roof. Plus once that system is gone, I can't claim a rebate the second time around. So it's going to cost me twice the amount to actually put another solar system in.
Warranties is only as good as the brand that supports it. A lot of the solar systems that are out there, you've never heard of the brand. A lot of these cheap brands banter around a 25 year performance warranty, that performance warranty doesn't mean a thing if the product has failed, because there's no warranty to support it. So a 25 year product warranty is what you want to look for, and that's a product warranty not a performance warranty, huge difference. Putting in quality upfront is definitely cheaper long term. The best value is not being able to have to replace products twice.
But it's not only just the cost, let's think about what we're trying to achieve. All of us are putting in solar power, yes we're trying to reduce energy, we're also trying to do our bit for the environment. I don't want to be taking out a panel in three years time and putting it in landfill. That's going a totally against what we're trying to achieve. Putting in a system that's got longevity means that we're not putting panels back into landfill.
What are the risks you should be aware of with low-price or cheap solar power systems?
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