Here is a situation you already know well. A customer sits at the kitchen table, nods along to your quote, and then says the quiet part out loud: “Can I pay it off?” Ten years ago that question sent you scrambling. Today the customer has usually done their own homework first, and the words on their lips are Brighte, Plenti or humm.

If you sell solar, you are also, whether you like it or not, in the finance conversation. You do not need a credit licence to sell a system, but you do need to understand the products your customers are being offered, because a badly matched finance arrangement kills deals, generates chargebacks, and lands you in a dispute long after the panels are on the roof. This is not about pushing finance. It is about being the operator in the room who actually knows how these products work.

So let me lay out what solar buy now pay later really is, how the three dominant Australian providers differ, how to work out the true cost, and the consumer protection layer that most homeowners (and plenty of installers) get wrong.

What solar BNPL actually is

Start with the thing nobody explains at the kitchen table. “Buy now pay later” is a marketing label, not a legal category. Underneath it sit two very different products.

The first is a genuine regulated credit contract: a personal loan dressed up with a friendly app and instant approval. It is assessed against your customer’s capacity to repay, it is covered by the National Consumer Credit Protection Act (the NCCP Act), and the lender has hardship and responsible-lending obligations.

The second is a shorter interest-free or fee-based instalment arrangement that historically sat outside that framework. Regulation here has been tightening, and the safe assumption for you as an operator is simple: never assume a product is regulated credit just because it looks like a loan. The terms in the product disclosure statement decide that, not the brochure.

Why do installers offer these at all? Because they work. Finance lifts close rates and shortens the decision, and critically the installer usually gets paid upfront by the finance provider while the customer repays over time. That upfront payment is genuinely useful for your cashflow, which is the same reason you should never lean on a single funding channel to keep the lights on. If your whole sales model depends on one finance partner staying solvent and keeping its rates competitive, you have a concentration risk, the same way you would if you relied on one solar supplier.

Brighte, Plenti and humm: how they differ

I am going to be careful here, because rates and fees on these products change constantly and I am not going to quote you a number that is wrong by the time you read this. What does not change is the structure, and the structure is what you need to understand.

Brighte built its business specifically around home energy and solar. It offers both an interest-free BNPL-style payment plan and a longer regulated green loan, and it is deeply integrated with accredited installers, which is why you see it at so many kitchen tables. The interest-free plans typically carry account-keeping or establishment fees rather than a headline interest rate, so “0% interest” does not mean “0% cost”. Read the fee schedule.

Plenti (formerly RateSetter) is a lender first. Its renewable energy finance is generally a regulated personal loan with a stated interest rate that varies with the customer’s credit profile and the loan term. That means a proper credit assessment, but also the full protection of a regulated credit contract.

humm is a broader BNPL provider that finances solar among many other purchases. Its “big things” product covers larger purchases like solar, usually structured as instalments with establishment and monthly fees rather than a conventional interest rate.

The single most useful thing you can tell a customer is this: ask the provider one question, “Is this a regulated credit contract under the NCCP Act, yes or no?” The answer tells them how much protection they have if things go sideways, and it tells you which product you are actually helping them into.

Working out the true cost

Homeowners compare the advertised weekly repayment. That is exactly the wrong number, and it is where most people overpay without realising it.

The advertised figure is engineered to look small. Total cost of ownership is the only number that matters, and it is easy to calculate:

Total repayments (weekly or monthly amount, times the number of payments) plus every fee (establishment, account-keeping, monthly service, any mandatory insurance add-on), minus the cash price of the system. What is left is what the finance actually cost.

Let me run an illustrative example so the method is clear. These figures are made up to show the arithmetic, not a quote from any provider. Say a 10 kW system costs $12,000 cash. A fee-based interest-free plan advertises a comfortable weekly payment over four years, but adds an establishment fee and a monthly account fee. Add those fees across 48 months and you might find the customer repays $13,500 to $14,000 all up. Now compare a regulated personal loan at, say, an illustrative rate over the same term: the interest is visible and larger-sounding, but if the fees are lower the total can land close, sometimes lower. You cannot know which wins until you add up the real totals. The lesson for your customer is to demand the total repayable figure in writing, and never sign off a weekly number.

One more trap to name plainly: deferred-interest structures. Some plans advertise an interest-free period, then apply interest retrospectively from day one if the balance is not cleared in time. A customer who misses that window by a fortnight can get a very nasty surprise. Balloon payments and mandatory insurance bundles work the same way, hiding cost past the point of sale.

The consumer protection layer nobody explains

This is the part that will save you grief, because when finance goes wrong the customer often blames the installer standing in front of them.

Cooling-off rights. A solar sales contract, especially one signed after an unsolicited or door-to-door approach, generally carries a cooling-off period during which the customer can cancel. The exact window and rules vary by state and by how the sale was made, so point customers to the regulator rather than guessing. The ACCC’s guidance on contracts and cooling-off is the right starting point (ACCC, n.d.-a), and the Sprintlaw explainer is a readable overview of how cooling-off periods work across different Australian contracts (Sprintlaw, n.d.).

Consumer guarantees do not disappear because there is a finance contract. Under the Australian Consumer Law, the customer still has statutory guarantees that the goods and the installation are of acceptable quality and fit for purpose, with repair, replace or refund rights when they are not (ACCC, n.d.-b). Energy.gov.au sets out how warranties and consumer rights apply specifically to solar (Energy.gov.au, n.d.-a). These rights sit on top of any written workmanship warranty, not underneath it.

Disputing substandard work when finance is involved. If the install is faulty and the installer will not fix it, the customer has an escalation path through the ACL and state Fair Trading bodies, and energy.gov.au maintains a dispute-resolution guide for solar specifically (Energy.gov.au, n.d.-b). Where the finance is a regulated credit contract, the customer may also have grounds to raise the dispute with the credit provider. Where it was paid on a credit card, chargeback rights may apply.

The one that catches everyone: the finance survives the company. If an installer goes broke before commissioning, the finance contract does not die with the business. The customer still owes the lender, even for a system that is half-installed or never energised. The ACCC’s guidance on dealing with a business that has gone bust is the honest starting point here (ACCC, n.d.-c), and the practical reality is that recovering money from a liquidated installer is slow and often fruitless. This is exactly why a customer should never pay a large deposit and should be wary of any deal that front-loads the money before work starts.

A practical checklist you can hand a customer

You can compare general solar finance categories through consumer explainers like Solar Nerds (Solar Nerds, n.d.), Energy Matters (Energy Matters, n.d.) and Solar Market (Solar Market, n.d.), but none of them will run the total-cost sum for a specific customer. That is your job in the room, and it is a genuine trust-builder.

Where this leaves you as an operator

The installers who win the finance conversation are not the ones with the slickest BNPL brochure. They are the ones who can sit across from a customer, take the marketing off the table, and show them the real number. That positions you as the trustworthy operator rather than the one hurrying a signature.

The timing matters too. A BNPL-financed customer is often ready to commit the moment their approval clears, and if you are not in front of them at that point, the competitor who followed up first gets the job. Knowing where every quote sits and when to follow up is the difference between winning and losing that deal. That follow-up discipline is exactly what I am building CurrentFlow to handle: the idea is to track quote status and customer communication history in one place, so you reach out at the moment a financed customer is ready, not a week too late.

Understand the products, run the real numbers, and keep the follow-up tight. The finance is the customer’s decision. Being the operator who explained it honestly is yours.

References

ACCC. (n.d.-a). Contracts. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/buying-products-and-services/contracts

ACCC. (n.d.-b). Repair, replace, refund, cancel. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/problem-with-a-product-or-service-you-bought/repair-replace-refund-cancel

ACCC. (n.d.-c). When a business goes bust. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/stay-protected/when-a-business-goes-bust

Energy.gov.au. (n.d.-a). Warranties and insurance. Australian Government. https://www.energy.gov.au/solar/get-know-solar-technology/warranties-and-insurance

Energy.gov.au. (n.d.-b). Dispute resolution. Australian Government. https://www.energy.gov.au/solar/solar-retailers-and-installation/dispute-resolution

Energy Matters. (n.d.). Comparing leading solar financing options in Australia. https://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/comparing-leading-solar-financing-options-in-australia/

Solar Market. (n.d.). Solar financing options for Australian homes. https://www.solarmarket.com.au/tips/finance-options/

Solar Nerds. (n.d.). Solar finance options in Australia. https://solarnerds.com.au/consumer/solar-finance-options-in-australia

Sprintlaw. (n.d.). Cooling-off periods in Australian contracts: Essential legal guide. https://sprintlaw.com.au/articles/cooling-off-periods-in-australian-contracts-essential-legal-guide/

FAQ

Is solar BNPL regulated in Australia?

It depends on the specific product. Some solar finance sold as “buy now pay later” is a genuine regulated credit contract under the NCCP Act, with full responsible-lending and hardship protections. Other instalment arrangements have historically sat outside that framework, though regulation has been tightening. The only reliable way to know is to ask the provider directly whether the product is a regulated credit contract, and to read the disclosure statement rather than the brochure.

What happens to my BNPL repayments if the installer goes out of business?

The finance contract survives the company. If an installer is liquidated before your system is commissioned, you generally still owe the finance provider, even for an incomplete or unenergised system. Recovering money from a failed installer is slow and often unsuccessful, which is why paying large amounts upfront is risky. The ACCC publishes guidance on your options when a business you have dealt with goes bust.

How do I compare the real cost of solar BNPL against a personal loan?

Ignore the advertised weekly repayment. Multiply the repayment by the total number of payments, add every fee (establishment, monthly, account-keeping and any mandatory insurance), then subtract the cash price of the system. What remains is the true cost of the finance. Do the same for a bank personal loan and compare the total repayable figures, not the headline rate or the weekly amount.

Do I still have consumer rights if I financed my solar through BNPL?

Yes. Your Australian Consumer Law guarantees that the goods and installation are of acceptable quality and fit for purpose do not disappear because a finance contract exists. Those rights sit on top of any written warranty. If the work is substandard and the installer will not fix it, you can escalate through the ACL and your state Fair Trading body, and where the finance is a regulated credit contract you may also be able to raise the dispute with the lender.

Why do so many installers push a particular finance provider?

Finance lifts close rates and shortens the decision, and the installer is usually paid upfront by the provider while the customer repays over time. That upfront payment helps the installer’s cashflow, which is a legitimate business reason. It is not automatically a bad deal for you, but it does mean the recommended provider suits the installer as well as you, so it is always worth comparing the total cost against at least one independent option.