Solar Installer Gone Bust? Who Looks After Your System Now

Your system doesn’t stop being yours, or stop working, because the company that fitted it has closed. Your Feed-in Tariff or export payments come from your energy supplier, not the installer. Manufacturer warranties sit with the manufacturer. And any competent MCS-certified installer can inspect, service and repair a system someone else fitted.

What you may lose is the installer’s own workmanship warranty, unless it was insured, plus easy access to your paperwork and monitoring. Most of that can be recovered if you know where to look.

Key points

• Check the company’s status on Companies House before assuming the worst.

• Feed-in Tariff payments come from your FIT licensee (an energy supplier), not your installer.

• Manufacturer warranties are a promise from the manufacturer, so they don’t end when the installer does.

• Installers in the RECC consumer code must insure the workmanship warranties they issue. Find that insurer and report problems promptly, because claim time limits apply.

• If your MCS certificate is missing, the MCS helpdesk can help.

• Any competent MCS-certified installer can take on the system from here.

First, check whether they really have gone

An installer that has stopped answering the phone hasn’t necessarily stopped trading. Search for the company on Companies House. A company that is no longer trading normally shows as “in administration”, “in liquidation” or “dissolved”.

A few things are worth knowing at this stage:

• A company in administration may still be trading, and an administrator may sell the business to someone who takes on its customers. If someone has taken over the business, raise the problem with them first.

• Sole traders and partners stay personally liable even after they stop trading, according to NAPIT’s advice for customers in this position. Whether pursuing them is worthwhile depends on whether they can pay.

• If the company is still trading and you have a valid warranty, don’t call in another installer to fix it yet. RECC warns that doing so can risk voiding your warranty or insurance. Give the original installer the chance to put it right first.

What carries on regardless

Your Feed-in Tariff or export payments

Feed-in Tariff payments are made by your FIT licensee, which is an energy supplier, not the company that installed the panels. Ofgem defines the FIT licensee simply as “the supplier who pays you the FIT payments”. Your installer going out of business doesn’t change that.

If you’re on the Smart Export Guarantee instead, that contract is with your SEG supplier. You’ll still need to show that your installation and installer were MCS-certified, which is one reason to keep your MCS certificate safe.

If you later need work that touches the FIT system, such as an inverter swap, our guide to replacing a solar inverter on a Feed-in Tariff system explains what to tell your FIT licensee.

Manufacturer warranties

Panel, inverter and battery warranties are given by the manufacturer. They don’t end because the installer has closed. Check your handover pack for the product warranties and whether they were registered. Some manufacturers offer longer cover only if the product was registered, so it’s worth confirming the registration is in your name.

In practice, a manufacturer usually needs an installer to diagnose a fault and carry out any replacement. That doesn’t have to be the company that fitted it.

What you might lose: the workmanship warranty

The installer’s own workmanship warranty covers the quality of their installation work, as opposed to faults in the products. This is the part most at risk when an installer closes, and also the part that is meant to be protected.

RECC, the Renewable Energy Consumer Code, says its members must insure the workmanship warranties they issue, as well as any deposits and advance payments. If your installer has ceased trading, the job is to find that insurer.

Where to look:

1. Your handover pack or contract. The insurance-backed warranty certificate or policy document should be in there, with claim instructions.

2. Your MCS certificate. NAPIT notes that more recent MCS certificates record the warranty cover on the certificate itself.

3. The installer’s consumer code. Your paperwork should say which code your installer belonged to, usually RECC or HIES. RECC will help you identify the insurance provider, although it says it doesn’t hold consumer details and can’t confirm whether a policy was taken out for your job.

Then contact the insurer as soon as you can. RECC’s own summary of the insurance providers shows the time limits differ between providers, and many require defects to be reported within 30 days of discovery. Waiting until spring to report a problem you noticed in autumn can cost you the claim.

If there turns out to be no valid policy, you will most likely have to pay another installer for any remedial work, so get a quote first. RECC suggests asking the administrator or liquidator whether those costs can be claimed. If you paid by credit card or through a finance agreement, you may also have a claim against the card provider or lender under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. Conditions apply, and this isn’t legal advice, so check with the provider or Citizens Advice.

If they went bust before finishing the job

If you paid a deposit and the work never started, or was left unfinished, the same insurance route applies: RECC members must insure deposits and advance payments. Contact the deposit insurer named in your contract straight away, because some deposit protection periods are short.

If the system was installed but never registered with MCS, or never got its certificate, MCS has an Adoption Policy that can allow another certified installer to adopt a partially complete or complete installation. Whether it applies depends on the job, so ask MCS or the new installer to check before any work is done. Without registration, you may struggle to get export payments.

Get your paperwork back together

Whoever looks after the system next will want as much of this as you can find. So will a buyer if you ever sell the house.

• MCS certificate. If you can’t find it, MCS says its helpdesk will help with certificate queries where the original installer is no longer trading. You’ll need the technology type and the full address with postcode.

• The handover pack: system design, product datasheets and serial numbers, warranty documents.

• Electrical Installation Certificate for the work.

• The network operator notification or approval (G98 or G99). Our guide to solar export limits and DNO approval explains what these are.

• Your FIT statement or SEG contract.

• Monitoring app login.

• Any photos of the installation, the inverter label and the consumer unit.

Buying a house with a system already fitted? Our checklist for buying a house with solar panels covers the same paperwork from the buyer’s side.

Monitoring

Monitoring accounts are often set up by the installer, sometimes under the installer’s own account. If you can’t log in, or the app has stopped showing your system, contact the manufacturer’s support team and ask whether the system can be moved to an account in your name. Our guide to monitoring your solar panels through an app covers what the app should be telling you.

Who looks after the system now?

Any competent MCS-certified installer can inspect, service and repair a system they didn’t install. That includes fault-finding, inverter replacement, adding a battery and pigeon-proofing. New work they carry out is covered by their own workmanship warranty, not the old one.

A good first step is a full inspection, so you know where you stand before anything goes wrong. It’s also when you find out whether the original installation has any problems that should go to the warranty insurer while you’re still inside the time limit.

We look after systems we didn’t install. A large share of the battery retrofit enquiries we receive are for systems another company fitted.

If something looks wrong right now

Don’t wait for the paperwork to be sorted if the system is showing signs of a fault. Burn marks, buzzing or crackling, heat, or breakers that keep tripping mean switch off if it’s safe and call an engineer. Our guide to signs your solar inverter is failing lists what to look for. Never open the inverter, the battery or the consumer unit yourself.

Frequently asked questions

Will my Feed-in Tariff payments stop?

No. FIT payments come from your FIT licensee, an energy supplier, not the installer.

Is my manufacturer warranty still valid?

Yes. It’s the manufacturer’s promise. Check it was registered, and keep the serial numbers and installation date to hand.

Can another installer work on my system without voiding the warranty?

Once the original installer has genuinely stopped trading, yes. A manufacturer warranty claim needs an installer to diagnose and replace the faulty part, and that can be a different company. If the original installer is still trading and your warranty is valid, give them the chance to fix it first.

I can’t find my MCS certificate. What do I do?

Ask the MCS helpdesk. It supports certificate queries where the original installer is no longer trading.

Can you take on a system you didn’t install?

Yes. We inspect, service and repair systems whoever fitted them.

Book a solar system inspection. We’ll check the system over, tell you what condition it’s in, and help you work out what’s still under warranty.