VULNERABLE AUSTRALIANS PRESSURED INTO BUYING OVERPRICED SOLAR SYSTEMS BY DOOR-KNOCKERS
Vulnerable Australians, including pensioners and carers, are being pressured into signing up for overpriced solar systems . Some are paying almost double the amount they should be. A salesman from a company called Grand Group visited Murrurundi resident Jon Russell at his home last year. Mr Russell is the full-time carer for his friend Lisa Smit, who cannot work and who lives with several medical conditions. The friends installed a small solar system on their property in 2016, but the salesman told them they’d save more money by upgrading. Ms Smit needs 24-hour air-conditioning, which means high bills, so the friends decided to invest in extra panels. They agreed to an additional 3.3kW system last year, but the paperwork he received from the company didn’t detail how much the system would cost in the long run. The friends are paying $103 each fortnight and will have to do so for four years. Mr Russell said if they’d known how much the system would cost that they wouldn’t have sign...