London mayor's group solar panel scheme 'quietly shelved' - Tories

The Solar Together group-buying programme was introduced in 2017 (file photo of generic solar panels)

A City Hall scheme allowing Londoners to club together to purchase discounted solar panels has been riddled with delays and faults, local Conservatives have said.

One Bexley woman says she is stuck with panels that do not work.

Conservative London Assembly member Emma Best said the scheme had been "quietly shelved".

A London mayor spokesperson denied this but said a delay had been caused by the supplier going into liquidation.

The Solar Together group-buying programme was introduced and backed by Labour mayor Sadiq Khan in 2017 to allow multiple homeowners club together to purchase solar panels at a discounted price.

By early 2023, City Hall had received 1,456 complaints from customers unhappy with the service provided by GET-UK, the Conservatives said.

Solar Together says it is "actively assisting customers affected by the liquidation of GET-UK", also known as Green Energy Together-UK.

'Waiting to pay'

Amy Lee, from Bexley, south-east London, said that after getting the panels installed in 2021, they were found to be without batteries and did not have a certificate of installation, which would invalidate the house insurance.

"We paid a deposit of just under £2,000, we're still waiting to pay the rest, when it's all been fixed," Ms Lee said.

Ms Lee says her solar panels are currently not functional

"Solar Together are telling us to wait, but it has been a year," she added.

Ms Lee called for an investigation into how the scheme had been managed.

She also said they were not notified after the initial supplier, GET-UK, went bust.

On the Solar Together website, which also serves local authorities outside of London, none of the capital's 32 councils are included in the "active schemes". Bexley is listed under "past schemes".

This means residents in the capital are currently unable to register but they were in the past.

'A disaster'

London Conservatives said the scheme had appointed GET-UK as its sole contractor.

London AM Ms Best said: "Sadiq Khan has quietly shelved his flagship Solar Together scheme after seven years of failure.

"This scheme has been a disaster from the outset because of inept leadership from the mayor and his team."

Liberal Democrat AM Hina Bokhari said also called the scheme "a disaster from start to finish", but added this should not stop London from taking action on climate change.

A spokesperson for the mayor said Solar Together had "not been 'scrapped' or 'shelved'".

"Following the conclusion of the fifth phase of Solar Together, a comprehensive evaluation is taking place to ensure the Greater London Authority continues to offer the best possible solar energy support for Londoners in the years ahead," they said.

They added the scheme had "supported the installation of more than 24,000 solar panels across more than 3,400 London homes".

Majority 'resolved'

"Due to one of the scheme's suppliers going into liquidation, some customers in the fourth and fifth phases of Solar Together experienced unacceptably poor levels of service."

They said this had "affected Solar Together customers across the country".

The mayor's team had "stepped in" to ensure installations in London "were completed and customers refunded" and this process was "now close to being completed", they added.

A Solar Together spokesperson said it was actively assisting customers affected by the liquidation of GET-UK, offering resolutions for issues such as recovering deposits or completing unfinished installations.

"The vast majority of GET-UK customer issues are resolved already and those customers with outstanding issues are on a path to a resolution by alternative installers instructed by Solar Together," they added.

The Green Party has also been asked to comment.

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