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The ACCC reauthorised the New Energy Tech Consumer Code on 28 August 2026. Five years, out to September 2031.
If you have never heard of it, that is the problem in a sentence. It is the rulebook sitting behind your solar contract, and its own independent review earlier this month found that hardly any consumers know it exists, which caps how much good it can do.
So here is the short version, and the one part that catches people out.
In WA it is not optional
This matters more here than in most states.
Since 1 October 2025, a company cannot be an Accredited Vendor under the WA Residential Battery Scheme unless it is an Approved Seller under the code. No code, no rebate. A retailer either holds the status when it applies, or commits to getting it within three months.
That turns a voluntary industry badge into a condition of trading. If someone is quoting you a battery with the WA rebate applied, they are inside the code, and they are answerable to it.
WHAT IT BUYS YOU
Not a warranty. It is a conduct code, and it governs how a retailer is allowed to sell to you:
- Contracts in plain language you can read without a lawyer
- Real disclosure at quote stage: the product, the performance estimate, the pricing, and any extra charges
- Refund provisions if your system never gets connected
- Termination rights with a full refund in a defined set of circumstances
- Advertising that is not misleading, and rules on unsolicited selling
That performance-estimate clause is the one we would point at. A quote has to tell you what the system is expected to produce, on a stated basis. It is the difference between a number you can hold someone to and a number someone made up in your kitchen.
The gap: buying through your builder
Here is the part almost nobody knows, and we would rather tell you than sell you.
The code protects you when you have a direct contract with the Approved Seller. If the solar comes bundled into your new build and your contract is with the builder, the builder is your counterparty. The protections do not automatically follow the panels onto your roof.
We see this in Baldivis and Alkimos constantly. A 6.6kW system appears in the build spec, nobody can tell you the panel brand, the inverter, or the expected output, and by the time you are living there the person who chose it has moved on to the next lot.
If you are building, ask your builder who the installer is and whether your contract is with them. If it is not, you are relying on your building contract, not on the code. Sometimes that is fine. Often it is worth taking the solar out of the build and contracting it separately after handover.
Check the register, not the certificate
A certificate proves what was true on the day it was printed. Companies get suspended and expelled. Around 2,020 hold the status nationally, and the number moves.
The live record is the NETCC Approved Seller register at newenergytech.org.au. Type the trading name in. Thirty seconds, before you sign anything.
Perth Solar Warehouse and PSW Energy hold separate Approved Seller certificates, both current to May 2027. They are on the register too, and we would rather you looked than took our word for it.
One date worth knowing
The reauthorisation carries a transition. The amended code takes over on 1 December 2026. The administrator chose that date; 19 December is only the latest the old version was allowed to run.
Nothing changes for you before then. From 1 December, a quote has to show a design for your roof, any design fee and whether you get it back, and nothing can change on install day without your signature. We have set out the detail here: From 1 December, a solar quote has to show its working.
Get a quote from an Approved Seller, and check the register first, whoever you buy from.