In this episode, Jason and Cam from Source Energy Group sit down to react to real clips circulating online — solar installs gone wrong, rising power bills, questionable savings advice, and a government price announcement that deserves some serious scepticism.
Here’s what they saw, and what it actually means.
“Is This Normal?” — The SunRun Install Horror Show
One clip showed a homeowner on day seven of tagging a solar company online, asking publicly whether what they’d had installed was acceptable. The answer: not even close.
Screws sticking out of rafters. No pre-drilling. Panels hanging over the gutter line — what’s called the “waterfall effect” in the industry, where panels extend past the clearance distance from the gutter edge. It creates drainage problems, voids warranties, and in a bad storm, it’s a liability.
This is what happens when a sales company contracts out random installers with no quality control and no site supervisor. The salesperson gets their commission. The installer does the minimum. Nobody’s accountable. And the homeowner is left tagging the company on social media hoping someone responds.
The fix is simple: ask whether the company uses in-house installers or subcontractors. Ask whether a site supervisor is present on install day. Ask whether they do a pre-site inspection before the crew arrives. If the answers are vague, keep looking.
You Used Less Power. Your Bill Went Up 40%.
Another clip showed a homeowner revealing their latest quarterly electricity bill — the highest they’d received in 18 years of living in the same house.
The kicker: their usage had gone down 17.63% compared to the same period last year. Less power consumed. $400 more on the bill. A $700 quarterly bill had become $1,102.
This isn’t an anomaly. It’s the structural reality of the Australian energy market. Network costs, retailer margins, and government levies are embedded in your bill regardless of how much power you actually use. When usage drops, those fixed costs represent a larger proportion of what you pay. The grid gets you either way.
Solar doesn’t just reduce how much power you draw from the grid. It changes your relationship with the grid entirely. You generate your own. You store your own. The fixed costs don’t disappear, but your exposure to the variable costs — the ones that keep climbing — gets dramatically reduced.
Window Tinting vs Solar + Battery
A clip claimed that tinting your windows could cut your electricity bill by around $110 a month — and that it qualifies as a tax deduction.
Technically true. Also a lot of effort for a modest result.
Here’s the comparison Jason made directly: tint your windows, save $110 a month, claim a tax deduction. Or: install a properly designed solar and battery system, claim the Federal Government’s STC rebate upfront, eliminate 80–100% of your grid usage, and run your air conditioning, beer fridge, and every other appliance without watching the meter.
Pinching pennies works. But it doesn’t compound. Solar does.
Seven Million Australians Ignoring the “Better Offer” Notice
New data showed that seven million Australians are ignoring the better offer notice on their power bills — the legally required disclosure that tells you if a cheaper deal exists with the same retailer. On average, switching could save $300 a year.
$300 a year. After spending half a day on hold, comparing plans on third-party sites, and then fielding calls from overseas sales centres trying to upsell you.
Or: design a solar and battery system properly for your home and save 80–90% of your annual electricity cost. The comparison isn’t close.
The Queensland Price Reduction — And Why It Probably Doesn’t Matter
A government announcement landed: electricity prices in Queensland would drop 6.9% for residential customers and 8.1% for regional business customers.
Jason’s take was blunt: call bullshit.
Why? Because the same period that’s seen price drops also seen supply charge increases hit customers who went solar. Braden — a Source Energy Group customer featured in a previous episode — had his meter changed over to the solar tariff and immediately received notification of a 30% supply charge increase. He’s still saving $1,500 a quarter compared to his old bills. But the signal is clear: when the grid loses revenue from solar households, it finds another way to recover it.
A 6.9% reduction on the usage rate means little when supply charges, network fees, and other fixed costs are moving in the other direction. The grid’s revenue model doesn’t work if everyone goes solar. Expect it to keep adjusting.
EV Owners: The Case for Solar Just Got Stronger
One clip followed a UK family who added solar and battery after getting an EV — their monthly bills were increasing from charging the car. They installed 16 panels and three 5kW batteries, generated nearly 1,000kWh in a month, and charged their EV 15 times from solar alone.
The point Jason made: if you’ve already got an EV, or you’re planning to get one, the ROI calculation on solar and battery changes significantly. You’re not just offsetting household power — you’re offsetting fuel. The savings stack.
Bird proofing was also flagged in the clip and worth mentioning: rodents, pigeons, and other pests cause serious panel damage that’s invisible until you’re losing generation. It’s worth adding at install time while the crew is already on the roof.
The Cowboy Install That Says Everything
The final clip showed a solar system installed on a house that was surrounded — genuinely engulfed — in mature trees. Shade on every face, every time of day. The installer sold it anyway.
This is the logical endpoint of a sales-first industry. Someone gets a commission whether the system performs or not. The homeowner discovers six months later that their system is generating a fraction of what was projected. They call the company. Nobody answers.
A proper energy audit identifies shading before a single panel is specified. If the shade profile means solar won’t deliver meaningful savings at a particular property, an honest installer says so — even if it means losing the sale.
That’s the standard Source Energy Group holds itself to. If it doesn’t make financial sense for you, we’ll tell you. Not every roof is the right roof. But when it is, the results speak for themselves.
There’s only one real way out of rising power bills, dodgy installers, and a grid that keeps shifting the goalposts. Get a properly designed solar and battery system from an installer who’s accountable — one who’ll still be answering the phone in year 15.
The rest is noise.