The Courier Mail today revealed that victims of the failed Cleaner Energy will not be receiving refunds – this is yet another blow to the fragile solar industry with legitmate operators being tarred with the same brush. In these times it is more important than ever to deal with a company that you can trust – Contact us today.
Full article from Courier Mail below.
ANGRY Queensland customers who have waited months for solar panel installations by Gold Coast company Cleaner Energy have had promises of refunds dashed by the company’s new operator.
Hundreds of clients, some of whom have already parted with as much as $11,000, are now in the hands of New Energy PV, a business accused of cashing in on the Federal Government’s insulation scheme by selling dodgy imported products, The Courier-Mail can reveal.
The paper has been contacted by other irate customers in Mackay, Roma, Childers, Charleville, Wide Bay and Brisbane since it revealed the extent of problems in Hughenden, west of Townsville, on Monday.
Cleaner Energy promised refunds to some customers this month but its business has since ceased trading and been taken over by New Energy PV.
NEPV has told customers that it has no legal liability to honour refunds, which were “Cleaner Energy’s issue”.
But The Courier-Mail has established that the two businesses are closely linked and operate out of the same Gold Coast industrial unit. NEPV’s Sean Kelly said the company had been a supplier to Cleaner Energy but otherwise had “no connection”.
He had once been a shareholder of Cleaner Energy but the relationship was “arm’s length”.
However, The Courier-Mail has obtained company correspondence describing Mr Kelly as Cleaner Energy’s general manager or director. Relatives of Mr Kelly appear as directors or shareholders of both companies.
Sean Kelly talks from Las Vegas to Courier-Mail journalist Mark Solomons
His father Kelvyn last year set up an arm of Cleaner Energy in Victoria. NEPV’s founding director Aaron Murray, a business partner of Mr Kelly, is an undischarged bankrupt who is flouting the law by remaining a director of two related companies.
The Courier-Mail this week tracked Mr Kelly to Las Vegas, where he said he was enjoying “a bit of R&R” after attending a solar industry conference in Texas.
He said NEPV would send workers to Hughenden to complete the installations “at our cost”.
But Hughenden resident Natasha Nicolosi said: “We’ll have them arrested for trespassing if they come on our properties.”
NEPV, formerly Silvercell Queensland, was sued by a local insulation manufacturer for trademark infringement and settled out of court in June.
Tests showed insulation foil used by Silvercell was six times more flammable than the Australian requirement, an industry source said.
Mackay businessman Darren Loss, who has waited months for a refund on his $2500 deposit, said it was “pretty sickening” that taxpayers were subsidising companies such as Cleaner Energy and New Energy.
“It sounds like they’re just out to make a quick buck,” he said
