Sustainable Didcot - Solar Streets Didcot

CURRENTLY CANCELLED - updated 05-05-2023

Unfortunately we have been informed that the solar panel installer for the solar streets project IDDEA has entered administration.

The reasons have been detailed as:

"During 2022 like many other Solar PV companies IDDEA found it difficult to get components from China because of another Covid outbreak, meaning they could only install at around a third of the rate they had done previously. As the majority of Solar Streets orders also include batteries, which were particularly hard to get, it meant that orders were often incomplete, meaning the final invoices could not be issued and the final cash balance could not be claimed. When parts did become available, they were at a higher price than that built into the customer quotation. Ian Dunstone, IDDEA’s Managing Director, decided to honour the original quoted price, which dramatically reduced the profitability of each installation, giving the company severe cashflow issues. That reduction in profitability coupled with the lower numbers of jobs has ultimately reduced their cash reserves to an extent that they cannot carry on and literally days ago took the decision to enter Administration. Ian has asked me to convey to you his sincere apologies about the situation it has left many people in."

The advice for customers is quoted as follows:

"Advice for customers

Customers can either wait a few weeks and see if the business is resurrected as planned, or can act now:

• If they have paid a deposit, they will be protected by the HIES Consumer Protection guarantee as long as the

date the deposit was registered with HIES is less than 4 months ago, and they will be able to claim the deposit

back via them. See www.hiesscheme.org.uk

• If the deposit is older than 4 months, if it has been paid by card (and many have), there is a potential route to

reclaim that from the card company as the customer has not received the goods for which they have paid

• For other customers, or customers who still want to have their installation completed, we hope to have an

installation solution that will take into account the deposits and the installation would be completed as if the

deposit had been paid to the new installer. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee this as any new company

picking up the installation will not receive any of the deposit - this is quite an ask, so we will confirm if this is

possible as soon as an alternative installer is identified

• For those customers who have gone elsewhere and their deposit from IDDEA Limited has not yet been

returned, they should also apply to HIES

What if you have a quote, but have not paid a deposit yet and still want to proceed with an installation?

• Once we have a new installation partner we will let everyone know and their IDDEA quote will be checked

before confirming the installation can proceed at that price, or the increase will be explained and agreed upon

with the customer and new installer - the paperwork will then be reissued in the name of the new installer and

contracted to their terms and conditions

• We hope that any new installer will be able to honour the Solar Streets pricing model, providing a discount

versus the standalone price and Community Benefits paid as before – we will keep you informed

• We will update www.solarstreets.co.uk with advice for customers, any new information, and customers can

• As ever, we think it is prudent to seek alternative quotations from other suppliers, ensuring they have a similar

consumer protection code to HIES in place"

This information has gone out to all volunteers on our mailing list, but please forward on this information if you know of someone who could make use of it.

We will send through any updates as soon as we recieve them.