Fiona Strain and Peter Litton live in Annandale, both work in the film industry and now have an 8.8 kilowatt solar system installed by Phil Keenan from Evolution Solar and Electrical through Inner West Community Energy.
Fiona and Peter were early adopters of rooftop solar, having had a small 1.5 kw system installed in 2010. “The feed in tariff was 60 cents a kilowatt hour and that was delightful,” says Peter.
Not so delightful was when their roof started leaking badly a couple of years ago, so Fiona and Peter decided to not only replace it, but to upgrade to a larger rooftop solar system and while their experience with the roofer was positive, their efforts to find a reliable solar installer were not.
Promised quotes didn’t materialise, Peter tried an online quote system without success, and eventually, Fiona paid a deposit with the installer her brother used. “But Covid came and I thought it wasn’t worth it,” says Fiona. “I didn’t feel comfortable, it didn’t feel right.”
They decided to come to our Solar Information Night at Lazy Thinking in Dulwich Hill earlier this year.
“It gave us enough to make us think we really should be looking into it. We’d done enough thinking about it and just wanted to get it done. We liked the fact that you’ve got people who are local and that you give some money to help organisations put solar on,” says Fiona.
“It was less than a week from signing the quote to Phil coming to install the system. He had a big job coming up, but had a couple of days available so we said yes.”
Peter adds, “We always wanted someone between us and the tradesperson and it was great that we had [IWCE project manager] Gav. Having him there to review the quote and knowing that he’s gathered a lot of trustworthy people he knows, is a really good thing. Phil took care of his team of four and put in an extra power point in the front garden for nothing. He was really helpful and a really good bloke.”
For Fiona and Peter, it was their trust and confidence in the group that determined their decision.
“You guys have done it, you’ve done all that leg work, you know what you’re doing,” says Fiona. “It’s like having a mum and dad to help you.”
Our next Solar Information Night will be at Club Briars in Concord on May 7. Bookings via Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/solar-and-energy-efficiency-workshop-tickets-880029902127?aff=oddtdtcreator
Or, if you want to just get going now, email us at solar@innerwestcommunityenergy.org.au