Solar Contract Red Flags Ireland 2026: 12 Things to Check Before You Sign

A solar contract is a 25-year commitment on your roof, your electricity bill, and your home’s BER. It deserves more than a five-minute skim. Every week we hear from Irish homeowners who signed a solar contract on the kitchen table under sales pressure, and discovered later that the panels were bargain-tier, the workmanship warranty was 12 months, or the €1,800 grant they thought was “included” had actually been baked into an inflated headline price.

This is a checklist you can read in ten minutes and print off before your next installer meeting. Twelve concrete things to check — and the wording to use to check them — before you sign anything.

Before you sign: the 60-second sanity check

• The installer is on the current SEAI-registered list — verified today, not last year.
• The quote itemises panels, inverter, battery (if any), and labour — not one lump sum.
• The contract states the total system size in kWp and total panel wattage.
• There’s a written workmanship warranty separate from the panel warranty.
• The price shown is inclusive of 0% VAT and the €1,800 SEAI grant is deducted separately (not silently absorbed).
• There’s a cooling-off period stated — usually 14 days for a contract signed at home.
• Payment terms don’t require more than a modest deposit up-front.

Miss any one of those and you’re owed a longer conversation before pen touches paper.

1. “SEAI-registered” — but is that still true today?

The SEAI Registered Companies list is public and updated regularly. Companies can be removed for non-compliance, and some rebrand or trade under a different entity than the one that’s registered. Ask the installer for the exact legal name and company registration number that will appear on your contract, then check it against the SEAI list at seai.ie.

The check: the entity on the contract must match the entity on the SEAI list — character for character. “Solar Solutions Ireland Ltd” is not the same as “Solar Solutions Ireland (Trading) Ltd”. If they don’t match, the grant application will bounce back and you’re on the hook.

2. The itemised quote — not the lump-sum quote

A legitimate quote lists every major component with make and model. Something like:

• 12 × JA Solar JAM66-D45-450W panels (450 W each, tier-1 monocrystalline)
• 1 × SolaX X1-Hybrid-5.0-D 5 kW hybrid inverter
• 1 × Pylontech US5000C 4.8 kWh battery (optional)
• Aluminium racking, slate hooks, DC/AC cabling, isolators
• Scaffolding, labour, commissioning, MCS/SEAI paperwork

A red-flag quote just says “5 kW solar system with battery — €12,000”. That’s not a quote; that’s a bumper sticker.

The check: ask for “the make and model of every panel, inverter, and battery in writing, please”. Any installer worth signing with will send it same-day.

3. System size in kWp and per-panel wattage

Some sales scripts talk in vague terms like “a big system” or “6–8 panels”. The contract must state:

• Total system size in kWp (e.g. 5.28 kWp)
• Number of panels and rated wattage each (e.g. 12 × 440 W)
• Inverter AC rated output in kW
• Battery capacity in usable kWh (not just gross kWh)

The check: multiply panels × wattage. If 12 panels × 440 W = 5.28 kWp is quoted, your contract should show 5.28 kWp, not “5 kW” or “approx 5–6 kW”. Precision protects you if the installer later swaps in cheaper panels.

4. Workmanship warranty vs product warranty

Two different warranties, often confused:

• Product warranty: from the manufacturer, on the panels, inverter and battery. Panel product warranties are typically 12–25 years. Inverters are 5–10 years. Batteries are 10 years.
• Workmanship warranty: from the installer, on the labour and installation quality (leaks, loose racking, wiring faults). This should be 5 or 10 years, in writing, from the installing company.

The check: the contract must include the installer’s workmanship warranty as a specific clause, in years, and confirm that the workmanship is covered by the installer’s public liability and professional indemnity insurance. Ask for the insurance certificate number. Companies come and go; the warranty is only as good as the entity behind it.

5. The €1,800 SEAI grant — who applies for it, and how it’s deducted

Some installers deduct the €1,800 SEAI grant from your invoice and apply for it themselves. Others quote you the gross price and expect you to apply. Both are legal, but the transparency of the transaction differs sharply.

A red flag: an installer whose “grant already included” price is roughly the same as a competitor’s gross price. That means the grant is being absorbed into their margin rather than passed to you.

The check: the quote should show a line reading something like “less SEAI grant: – €1,800” with the gross and net prices both visible. Then cross-check against 1–2 other quotes for the same system size.

6. 0% VAT — on the contract, not just in the sales pitch

Since May 2023, residential solar PV supply-and-install in Ireland has been zero-rated for VAT. This is a legal reality — you should not be charged 13.5% or 23% VAT on a domestic installation. In Budget 2025 the zero rate was extended to run through 31 December 2030.

The check: the invoice line for VAT must show “0%” or “zero-rated”. If it shows anything else on a residential job, walk away.

7. The cooling-off period

Under the European Communities (Off-Premises Contracts) Regulations, a contract signed at your home (or anywhere off the trader’s business premises) carries a 14-day right to cancel with no penalty. This has been Irish consumer law since 2013.

The check: a paragraph in the contract should acknowledge the 14-day cooling-off period and explain how to exercise it. If the contract doesn’t mention it, the trader is technically in breach — and worse, the cancellation period extends automatically to 12 months from the date of the contract. Which is your leverage if things go wrong.

8. Deposit & staged payment structure

A reasonable deposit is 10% – 25% of the contract value, taken to reserve panels/inverter stock. The bulk should be payable on install completion, with a small retention (5–10%) held for two weeks in case commissioning issues surface.

Red flags:

• Deposit above 30% of total — this is unusual and puts your money at risk if the company folds.
• “Full payment upfront and we’ll book you in” — no legitimate installer needs this.
• Cash-only, no invoice — no SEAI grant, no VAT paperwork, no consumer protection.

The check: pay by bank transfer or credit card. Credit card payments over €100 carry section 75-style protection in Ireland via the credit provider. Never pay in cash.

9. NC6 form and ESB Networks notification

Before you can legally export to the grid or receive the Clean Export Guarantee payment, ESB Networks must be notified via the NC6 (previously NC1) form. The installer is normally responsible for submitting this once the system is commissioned.

The check: the contract should explicitly list “NC6 submission to ESB Networks” as an included deliverable, and include a completion date target (usually within 10 working days of install). If you have to chase the installer for this later, your CEG payments won’t start — and you could be running an unnotified microgeneration installation, which is a compliance issue.

10. What’s NOT included (the “extras” trap)

Every contract has small print about extras that will trigger additional charges. Standard ones to look for and challenge:

• Consumer unit upgrades or new sub-boards (should be quoted upfront after a site survey)
• Roof repairs discovered under panels (fair — but ask for photos and a price ceiling)
• Excess scaffolding days if install runs over (should be at fixed daily rate)
• Grant paperwork “administration fee” (should be zero or nominal)
• Bird mesh, sparrow guards, tile leaks — often billed after the fact

The check: ask the installer to list every conceivable extra with a fixed price per unit before you sign. A one-line “price subject to site conditions” is not sufficient after a site survey has already been done.

11. Panel & inverter substitution clause

Solar supply chains fluctuate. Occasionally an installer can’t source the panel or inverter specified on the day of install. What does your contract say about substitutions?

A fair clause reads roughly: “In the event that the specified panel/inverter is unavailable, the installer will substitute with a product of equal or greater rated output, equal or better warranty terms, and from a tier-1 or equivalent manufacturer, subject to the customer’s written approval prior to install.”

An unfair clause reads: “The installer reserves the right to substitute components as necessary.” That’s a blank cheque to swap your JinkoSolar N-type TOPCon panels for a low-end brand you’ve never heard of.

The check: if the substitution clause is one-sided, ask for a version that requires your written approval and specifies equal-or-better performance and warranty.

12. Ownership, resale & the “lease” question

The vast majority of Irish residential solar contracts are outright purchases. But a handful of “free solar” and “no upfront cost” schemes are actually 20–25 year power-purchase or lease arrangements, where a third party owns the panels on your roof and you buy the electricity from them at a discounted rate.

These can look attractive at first — zero cost, immediate savings. The catch: when you sell your home, the buyer must accept the lease (or you must buy it out at whatever the schedule says). They can be expensive to unwind and can affect mortgage lending on the property.

The check: the contract must state clearly who owns the equipment on your roof from day 1 — you, or the installer / financing company. If you own it, the SEAI grant is available. If a third party owns it, no grant, and you need to read the lease terms extremely carefully. See our note on “free solar panels” schemes in Ireland.

The three questions that flush out most bad contracts

1. “Can I have the quote itemised by component, with make and model in writing?”
2. “What is your workmanship warranty in years, and can I see the insurance certificate that backs it?”
3. “What’s the substitution clause if you can’t source the specified panels or inverter?”

Any installer who dodges, deflects or gets defensive on those three questions is telling you exactly what you need to know. Good installers welcome the questions — they’re the same ones we’d ask if we were buying.

If it’s already gone wrong

Signed something under pressure and now regretting it? You have options:

• Within 14 days of a home-signed contract: you can cancel in writing with no penalty (12 months if the trader failed to inform you of the cooling-off right).
• Post-install, workmanship issues: put concerns in writing to the installer, then to the CCPC (Competition and Consumer Protection Commission) if unresolved.
• Grant paperwork problems: contact SEAI directly — they take grant fraud seriously and can escalate against registered companies.
• Post-install technical faults still under warranty: keep everything in writing, and if the installer has ceased trading, most panel and inverter product warranties can be claimed directly from the manufacturer through their Irish distributor.

The bottom line

A well-drafted solar contract is short, itemised, and easy to understand. If yours feels vague, or if the sales rep is pushing you to sign on the night, that’s the signal to slow down. Ireland has a lot of excellent SEAI-registered installers — there’s no shortage. Take a week, get another quote or two, and pick the company whose contract you understand line by line.