Well, firstly we must say that we've had many a battle over the years with customers about batteries. Whether it's been about their price and performance, or things like expecting amazing buyback rates from energy retailers that never seem to happen, we've had to have many hard-truth conversations about the realities of solar batteries.
Now, we must stress that we always say to people that batteries can't be brought on price alone. We've seen many people buy a cheap inverter and panel branded batteries, through to no names that they found online. It never seems to go well. And that's putting it very nicely. One of those said no names even had concrete inside it. Yes, we are unfortunately serious.
However, this latest recall is very troubling in its scale and effects across the market. Please see the photo below of the affected brands.
And what is it that all these brands have in common? They use LG cells...
Now for the solar industry, the LG chem product was always one of the premium ones on the market. We have installed them (thankfully none from the recalled runs) and they have been amazing. Many would have told you to only go LG for batteries due to all the potential issues, which is what makes this latest recall so shocking. However, there is a silver lining for those affected.
LG has said that it will either remove and compensate, including for losses on power bills, or exchange for an ESS unit if the customer desires. If these products had not been LG, then a recall would have most likely not occurred, and customers would certainly not be getting compensation.
We need to add here that thankfully, we realized many years ago the strength of the ESS product, and on the rarer occasions when we did sell batteries, it was mainly ESS. We always said we didn't want to put our business through due to selling faulty products, which unfortunately happens all too often, and are very glad that our judgment in this instance proved to be correct.
We must also stress here that this is why you should avoid larger solar companies.
Issues like this have finished many in the past and are part of the reason why large-scale solar is not possible due to the sheer amount of variables that go into installing every system. For a company our size, we could simply fix the problem. If it's at a large scale, however, then you have no choice but to wrap it up.
We must also stress that many industry veterans in the wholesale market were caught out by this. This isn't their fault at all, but it does highlight how difficult it is to operate successfully in a new industry where products are not yet able to be verified with the test of time.
If you are one of the ones affected by this recall, please contact LG immediately and they will assist you with your next steps. We have personally spoken to them this morning and whilst it is a crazy time, they are doing their best to help everyone promptly. If we can help our customers with any queries or questions then please do not hesitate to call. We realize how stressful things like this can be after you've purchased something. Rest assured, you can always count on us for assistance in times like these.
Hope we've helped someone out there today. Stay sunny everyone!
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