How to choose an STC trader

Why this matters

In 2024 Emerging Energy Solutions, an STC business linked to the Greenbot app, went into liquidation owing creditors more than $86 million, and hundreds of installers complained they had not been paid for certificates. The regulator has been clear that it is not a party to these contracts, has no power to step into disputes and cannot recover bad debts for you.

So the checks below are worth doing with any trader, including us.

1. The real price

• Is the price published and dated, or do you have to call?
• Is it for unregistered or registered certificates? They are often different.
• Is it before GST, with GST, or no GST at all? GST on STCs explains why this changes the comparison.
• What comes off it: processing, administration, registry or software fees?
• When is the price locked: when you lodge, when it is approved, or when it is registered?

STCs can be bought from the clearing house at a capped $40 before GST, and the regulator advises caution with prices above that cap. Compare on the same GST basis: $40 before GST is $44 with GST. Other traders' published buy prices we found on 3 November 2026 ran from about $38.20 to $39.50. How STC prices work.

That caution applies to us too: on a home system our $41 is above the cap, so ask us these questions as well. We pay within 1 business day of approval, so you can test us with one job and little at risk.

2. When you are paid

• What starts the clock: submission, the trader's approval, or the regulator's approval?
• Is the time in business days? Is it the same for your first claim, and for batteries?
• Do they pay before the regulator approves, or after? If before, can they take the money back later, and on what grounds?

3. The contract

The regulator tells installers and retailers to make sure a contract with a registered agent covers:

• who bears the risk if the regulator does not approve the STCs
• clear payment terms, including the price and the timing
• a fair way to resolve disputes

If a trader will not put these in writing, take that as your answer. The ACCC has guidance on small business contracts, and your state fair trading office can help with a dispute.

4. The business

• Check the legal name and ABN on ABN Lookup, and that the name matches the contract.
• Is it a registered agent itself, or is another business creating the certificates? The regulator publishes permanent suspensions on its website.
• Is there a real address and a person who answers the phone?
• How long has it been trading, and who else trades with it? Ask for a reference.

5. The assignment

The right to create STCs must go to the correct registered agent, the one you contracted with. Check the name on the assignment form. A certificate belongs to the agent who created it, so if you are ever unsure, check the REC Registry.

On a system owned by a GST-registered business, make sure the tax invoice comes from the right party: who invoices whom.

6. The system

• Does their app take part in the regulator's Solar Panel Validation initiative? It can speed up processing.
• Do you pay for the software, or does the trader?
• Can you keep your current login and your installers' habits, or do you have to retrain everyone?
• Can you see where each claim is up to without ringing?

7. How much you have at risk

The money you are owed at any moment is your real exposure to a trader, and fast payment keeps it small. Twenty jobs in progress at about 100 STCs each is about 2,000 STCs, close to $80,000 at recent market prices. Every extra week between claim and payment leaves more of that with someone else, and you may owe your wholesaler in the meantime.

• Add up what you are owed. Would you be comfortable if that business stopped answering tomorrow?
• Watch for payments slipping. It is often the first sign of trouble.
• Consider using two traders so that no single one holds all of your money.

We expect you to ask us all of this. Here is who we are and how we work.