Firm involved in council's solar scheme goes bust

The company had been brought in by a council contractor for the scheme

A firm involved in a Devon County Council solar panel and battery storage scheme has gone bust.

Green Energy Together, Get UK, installed many of the solar panels and energy storage batteries that householders bought through a scheme called Solar Together Devon.

The council said it was not seeking reimbursement as part of the liquidation process because it had not been directly contracted with the firm.

It said it was not aware of any residents whose order had not been fulfilled, and only knew of one case where work had started but not been finished.

Scheme staying closed

Insolvency company Price Bailey has been appointed to see its winding up, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

"Get UK is not a contractor of the council," Devon County Council said.

It said they contracted with iChoosr in 2020, which has run the national Solar Together scheme, and Get UK was contracted by iChoosr.

iChoosr would be contacting Devon residents to make them aware about GET UK, it added.

The council said it had no plans to reopen the Solar Together Devon scheme which closed in October 2020 with most of the installations completed in the first half of 2021.

'Problems from start'

Solar Together Devon aimed to group applicants together so that solar panels and battery systems could be bought at a lower cost through bulk purchasing.

A Devon resident who bought solar panels and batteries through the scheme said: "There were problems with it from the start.

"The work hasn’t been completed satisfactorily after two years."

Devon businesses are among more than 122 firms listed on Companies House documents with claims against Get UK totalling £4.2m.