We counted the marketing phrases used across 1,611 Australian solar company descriptions in our directory. The two most common claims are “affordable” or “cheap” and “accredited”, each in 103 descriptions (6.4%), as at 2 August 2026. The claims you can actually check are the rarest: a 25 year warranty appears in 16 (1.0%), a panel tier in 15 (0.9%), and “no hidden costs” in 8 (0.5%).
That pattern is the story. Solar companies mostly describe themselves with adjectives nobody can test, and avoid the specifics anyone could. This post shows the counts, then goes claim by claim: what each one means, and how to check it.
What the descriptions actually say
Every phrase we counted, across all 1,611 companies, as at 2 August 2026.
| Claim in description | Companies | Share of directory |
|---|---|---|
| “affordable” or “cheap” | 103 | 6.4% |
| “accredited” | 103 | 6.4% |
| “CEC” or “Clean Energy Council” | 93 | 5.8% |
| “family owned” | 67 | 4.2% |
| “years of experience” | 65 | 4.0% |
| “premium” | 52 | 3.2% |
| “award winning” | 18 | 1.1% |
| “25 year warranty” | 16 | 1.0% |
| “tier 1 panels” | 15 | 0.9% |
| “no hidden costs” | 8 | 0.5% |
Finding one: most listings barely claim anything
Notice how low every number is. The most popular phrase in the industry appears in about one description in sixteen, and nine of the ten appear in under 5% of listings.
That is not because most solar companies have sworn off marketing. It is because the description field is usually short, often one line, and sometimes empty. Many read like “Solar panel installation in Newcastle and the Hunter” and stop. There is no room for a claim, so no claim gets made.
So if a company does not say it is accredited, that tells you nothing about whether it is. Absence of a phrase is not evidence of anything. The description is a marketing box, not a disclosure form.
Finding two: the checkable claims are the rarest
Sort the same phrases by whether an outsider could confirm them and a clear split appears.
At the top sit claims with no fixed meaning. “Affordable” (103), “family owned” (67), “years of experience” (65), “premium” (52) and “award winning” (18) contain no number, name, date or document you could ask for. They are moods.
At the bottom sit the claims that point at something real. A “25 year warranty” (16) points at a document, “tier 1 panels” (15) at a published list, and “no hidden costs” (8) at the quote itself. Those are the three rarest phrases in the set.
Accreditation language sits in the middle. “Accredited” (103) and “CEC” (93) are checkable, because public registers exist. But the descriptions almost never carry the number or installer name that would let you look anything up.
The claim-by-claim guide
| Claim | What it really means | How to check it |
|---|---|---|
| “Tier 1 panels” | A BloombergNEF finance ranking, not a quality grade. | Get the exact make and model, check the CEC approved modules list. |
| “Accredited” | An individual installer, not the business. It belongs to a person. | Ask that person’s name or number, use the SAA status check. |
| “CEC” or “Clean Energy Council” | Could mean approved seller, approved products, or nothing specific. | Ask which. Sellers on the New Energy Tech list, products on the CEC lists. |
| “25 year warranty” | Almost always the panel performance warranty, the weakest of three. | Ask for all three: product, performance and workmanship warranties. |
| “Family owned” | Ownership structure. Says nothing about who installs. | Not verifiable. Ask if crews are employed or subcontracted. |
| “Award winning” | A real industry award or a paid-entry local one. | Ask which award, which year, who ran it. Check their winners list. |
| “Affordable” or “cheap” | Price positioning with no number. | Get three quotes for the same system size and compare totals. |
| “Premium” | Also price positioning with no number. | Ask what is premium: panel brand, inverter, warranty, or the install. |
| “Years of experience” | The business, one career, or staff totals combined. | Check the trading entity’s ABN registration date on ABN Lookup. |
| “No hidden costs” | The only claim here you can test directly. | Check the quote against the extras listed below. |
“Tier 1” is the most misused word in Australian solar
Fifteen companies (0.9%) mention tier 1 panels. Most homeowners have seen the term on a solar sales page, and few have been told what it is.
Tier 1 comes from BloombergNEF, a research firm. BNEF describes its list this way: “BNEF Tier 1 module manufacturers are those which have met specified criteria based on project and asset finance data tracked in BNEF’s proprietary databases.” In plain English, it counts how often large lenders have funded projects using that manufacturer’s panels.
That is a question about the manufacturer’s balance sheet, not a lab test. A manufacturer can be Tier 1 and make an ordinary panel, and a smaller maker can build an excellent panel and never appear, simply because it does not sell into large financed projects. The list also ranks manufacturers, not products, and manufacturers make several ranges at different prices.
Ask for the exact make and model in writing instead, and check it appears on the Clean Energy Council’s approved products lists. Our guide to the best solar panels in Australia compares the main brands on what is actually written down.
Accreditation and retailer approval are two different things
This confusion costs people the most. In our directory, 103 companies (6.4%) use the word “accredited” and 93 (5.8%) mention the CEC or Clean Energy Council. Many readers assume those mean one stamp of approval. They do not.
Installer accreditation applies to a person, the electrician who designs and signs off your system. It moved from the Clean Energy Council to Solar Accreditation Australia in 2024, and SAA runs it now. The Clean Energy Council’s own site states that “Solar Accreditation Australia (SAA) is now responsible for ensuring installers and designers have undertaken appropriate training and meet standards.” The old solaraccreditation.com.au address, still linked from many company pages, now redirects to the Clean Energy Council. If a company’s site sends you there, the page is out of date, which is not proof of anything worse. Check a person by number or name on the Solar Accreditation Australia status check.
Retailer approval applies to the business. The Clean Energy Council still runs the approved seller side through the New Energy Tech Consumer Code, covering sales conduct, quotes, contracts, deposits and after-sales obligations. Search the New Energy Tech Consumer Code approved seller directory.
The two often come apart, because the business that sells you the system may not employ the person who installs it. Ask both: who is the approved seller on my contract, and who is the accredited installer on my roof.
Solar Cobber does not verify, track or display any company’s accreditation status. Do not treat a listing in our directory, or any directory, as an accreditation check.
“25 year warranty” hides three different warranties
Sixteen companies (1.0%) mention a 25 year warranty. When a quote says 25 years, ask which of these three it means, because they behave very differently.
The panel performance warranty. The long one, and the weakest. It promises the panel still produces a set percentage of its rated output after a given number of years. To claim on it you usually have to prove underperformance, which means paying someone to test the panel.
The panel product warranty. This covers the panel itself failing or being defective. It is usually shorter than the performance warranty, though some brands now match them. This is the one that matters if a panel cracks.
The installer’s workmanship warranty. This covers the install: mounting, wiring, roof penetrations, labour. In Australia it is commonly five to ten years, and it is the one you are most likely to need, because most early solar problems are installation problems.
Now the question the marketing never answers: who honours it if the installer folds? The product and performance warranties belong to the manufacturer, usually handled through its Australian office or distributor, so they can survive the installer closing. The workmanship warranty usually dies with the company. Even where the manufacturer warranty survives, someone has to climb on your roof and swap the panel, and that labour is often not covered. The Australian Consumer Law also gives you consumer guarantees that cannot be signed away, though they only help against a business that still exists.
The claims you cannot check at all
Family owned (67 companies, 4.2%) describes who holds the shares. It says nothing about who is on your roof. A family owned business can subcontract every install, and a large one can employ its own crews. Ask directly: are your installers employees or subcontractors, and who attends a warranty callout?
Award winning (18, 1.1%) means nothing unless the company names the award. Some solar awards are serious industry programs. Others are local business awards anyone can enter, sometimes for a fee. Ask which award, which year, and who ran it.
Affordable or cheap (103, 6.4%) and premium (52, 3.2%) are opposite words doing the same job: positioning without a price. Neither means anything until you have written quotes in front of you. Our guide on how to compare solar quotes sets out the fields to line up.
Years of experience (65, 4.0%) never says whose years. Twenty years might be the trading business, one director’s career across several previous businesses, or everyone on staff added together. Ask for the ABN of the entity that will appear on your contract and check its registration date on ABN Lookup, run by the Australian Business Register. That gives you the trading history of the company that owes you a warranty.
“No hidden costs” is the rarest claim and the easiest to test
Only 8 companies (0.5%) promise no hidden costs. It is the least used phrase on the list and the only one you can test on the spot, because the test is the quote in your hand. Ask whether each of these is in the price:
- Meter reconfiguration or a new meter from your electricity retailer
- Network connection fees, and any export limit your DNSP applies
- Switchboard upgrades, safety switch work or rewiring an old board
- Extras for a two storey home, tile roof, steep pitch or split array
- Scaffolding, rubbish removal and old system decommissioning
- Travel or callout fees for regional addresses
- Whether the price is after the federal STC discount, and what happens if that value changes
Then check the deposit terms and whether the price can move after the site inspection. Our explainer on the federal STC rebate covers how that discount appears on a quote.
What we are not saying
This is a study of marketing language, not an audit of company honesty. We name no company, and nothing here suggests any business has made a false claim.
A company that does not use a phrase is not making the opposite claim. A business with no description at all may be accredited, family owned, twenty years old and excellent. And using a phrase is not wrong. Most companies writing “premium” or “family owned” mean it honestly. You just cannot verify it from outside, so it should not carry weight in your shortlist.
Methodology
What the data is. Aggregated public Google Business listing data for solar companies in the Solar Cobber directory. This analysis uses the description text field only.
Sample. All 1,611 companies in the directory. Every percentage uses 1,611 as the denominator.
When and how. Descriptions were searched for each phrase by keyword matching, queried against the live directory on 2 August 2026, with no sampling, weighting or exclusions. A company counts once per phrase, and companies using several phrases appear in several rows, so the rows overlap and do not sum to a total.
Limitations, honestly stated:
- Descriptions vary in length and completeness. Some run several paragraphs, many are a single line, some are blank. A short description has fewer chances to contain any phrase, which pushes every count down.
- Not using a phrase does not mean the claim is untrue of a company. This measures what was written in one field. It cannot tell you whether a business is accredited, family owned or experienced, only whether the words appear.
- Keyword matching misses paraphrases. “Two decades in the trade” is not counted under “years of experience”. The counts describe phrasing, not meaning.
- This is not a census. It is our directory, a large sample but not a complete list of every solar business trading in Australia.
- Solar Cobber does not verify accreditation. No figure here reflects any check by us of any company’s accreditation, approval or warranty terms.
Frequently asked questions
Does “tier 1” mean a solar panel is high quality?
No. Tier 1 is a BloombergNEF ranking built from project and asset finance data, measuring how readily lenders fund projects using a manufacturer’s panels. It is about bankability, not performance or durability. Ask for the exact model number and check the Clean Energy Council approved modules list instead.
How do I check if a solar installer is accredited?
Ask for the accredited installer’s name or accreditation number, then look it up on Solar Accreditation Australia’s status check. Accreditation moved from the Clean Energy Council to Solar Accreditation Australia in 2024 and belongs to an individual, not a business. Separately, check whether the business on your contract appears on the New Energy Tech Consumer Code approved seller list. Do not rely on a directory listing, including ours, because Solar Cobber does not verify accreditation.
What happens to my warranty if the installer goes out of business?
Panel and inverter product warranties usually sit with the manufacturer and are handled through its Australian office or distributor, so they can outlive the installer. The workmanship warranty normally does not, because it depends on that company still trading. Labour to remove and refit a failed panel is often not covered either.
Should I avoid companies that use marketing language?
No. Marketing language is normal and says nothing bad about a business. The point is that it cannot separate one company from another, because any company can write it. Judge on written quotes, warranty documents, register checks and review patterns instead.
Where to go from here
Build your shortlist from the full company directory or your state’s listings, then judge candidates on documents rather than descriptions. Our guide on how to choose a solar installer covers what to ask on the phone.
The short version: ignore the adjectives. Ask for the model number, the accreditation number, the three warranty documents and a fixed written price. All of that can be checked. Almost nothing in a description can.
Related reading
- The Australian Solar Installer Report 2026
- why solar installer ratings tell you almost nothing
- how long solar panels really last
- what happens to your warranty if your installer disappears
About this research
This is independent desk research by Solar Cobber. We did not visit sites, request quotes or accept payment for inclusion. Figures are dated and sourced, and pricing and policy details change, so confirm current terms directly before you sign anything.