Lack of consumer energy resources retailer memberships skew EWON complaint data

NSW's Energy and Water Ombudsman received 677 complaints about residential and small business solar and battery systems in the year to June 2026, up 125% from 301 the year prior. However, the ombudsman has no jurisdiction over non-member retailers, meaning the true complaint rate is unknown. The ombudsman called for expanded powers to cover all solar, battery and virtual power plant retailers, citing a consumer protection gap that the ACCC had also flagged in its June inquiry into the National Electricity Market.

Where this fits

This bears directly on reliability and cost. Australia is deploying millions of rooftop solar and battery units with minimal standardised oversight. A hidden complaint baseline means systemic failures in installation quality, system performance and grid connection go unmeasured and uncorrected. Poor installations degrade both reliability at the point of use and grid stability at scale. The lack of uniform regulatory reach also enables cost-shifting: when non-member retailers cut corners on installation or support, consumers bear the cost of malfunction and replacement, and grid operators bear the cost of grid-connected assets that do not perform as modelled.

What it means

Australia is building a weather-dependent grid on distributed assets whose real-world performance is opaque. If nearly one-third of recorded complaints relate to installation and connection, and the ombudsman sees only a fraction of all complaints, installation failure is likely a material cost and reliability drag on the transition. Sovereign grid oversight requires complete data. Until all retailers are captured in a single dispute framework, Australia will not know whether its distributed solar and battery fleet is performing to specification or whether grid models that assume high uptake are hedging against equipment that fails in the field.