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TWO elderly residents of a West Australian caravan park have been
awarded $9425 in compensation after being misled over solar power.
Polaris Solar, which is in liquidation, was fined $30,000 for
misleading the residents regarding approvals for the installation of solar
panels at their park home.
The former Landsdale company faced Fremantle Magistrates Court in relation
to two charges of making false and misleading representations in breach of
the Fair Trading Act.
The compensation order was made for losses incurred by the residents who
had relied on the false representations in making the decision to buy the
solar panels.
Polaris Solar was also ordered to pay court costs of $2746.
In May, 2010, the two residents of the Woodman Point Holiday Park in
Munster entered into a contract with the company to install a
"grid-connected" solar panel system at their home on the basis that the
company would arrange approvals from the park management and Synergy.
But the panels were installed two months later without approvals being
obtained.
The residents were then informed by the company that the system could not
be connected to the grid and a bi-directional meter could not be installed
as promised.
The result was that the consumers could not receive credits from Synergy
for feeding power back into the grid.
In handing down his decision recently, Magistrate Paul Heaney said that although the
company has gone into liquidation the principles of general deterrence
warranted a significant fine and an order for compensation.
Acting Commissioner for Consumer Protection David Hillyard said it was a
serious case of a company betraying the trust of consumers.
"When a company makes a commitment to consumers that they will organise
approvals for home installations, they need to be genuine and honest about
making those promises and ensure they fulfil their obligations," he said.
"To engage in deceptive conduct and, in the process, take advantage of
elderly consumers is a serious breach of consumer law and those who are
responsible for these types of misleading practices will face prosecution."
