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Solar
Home Systems and Solar Lanterns |
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Consumer
Protection for Solar Home Systems and Solar Lanterns
The Administrative Unit (AU) maintains a Consumer Protection Facility
to ensure that solar companies participating in the RERED Project
market quality-certified products, provide efficient after sales services
and are responsive to customer complaints. The protection measures
include the following.
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All solar home systems (SHS) and
solar lanterns installed are required to conform to the RERED
Project: Technical Specifications for Solar Home Systems
and RERED
Project: Specifications for Solar Lanterns respectively.
The specifications are designed to ensure that the SHS meets
internationally accepted standards for reliability, longevity
and safety. |
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The solar company is required to educate the
customer on realistic expectations of system performance prior
to sale and provide basic training on operation, maintenance
and trouble shooting procedures at the time of installation.
These are contained in a User Manual, which is available in
the Sinhala and Tamil languages. |
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The solar company is required to provide and
honour the Warranty and Money-back Guarantee Scheme stipulated
by the RERED Project. |
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Complaint Investigation
At the time of sale the customer’s attention is drawn to the
relevant sections of the User Manual, including the complaint procedure
if the system malfunctions. In cases where the customer and solar
company cannot resolve a complaint, the customer then notifies the
AU (or the PCI) concerned. The AU (or PCI) then seeks a written explanation
from the solar company, and in practically all cases the problem is
resolved at this stage. If not, the AU will then appoint a consultant
to visit the customer (with the solar company if appropriate) to investigate
the reported problem and ascertain the cause for remedial action by
the AU. The AU administers funds to cover the cost of this complaint
investigation service.
Warranty
The solar company is required to provide a performance warranty for
the solar lantern or SHS installed in the customer’s premises.
The warranty period is one year for the complete unit and ten years
for the photovoltaic module, with the exception that there is no warranty
for light bulbs/tubes and fuses.
Money-back Guarantee
Scheme
In the case of SHS, the solar company is required to provide the customer
the right to return the system within 30 days of installation without
having to give any specific reasons. The amount refunded will be no
less than 75 percent of the selling price of the SHS when the PV module,
controller, battery and light fixtures are returned to the solar company
in good working condition. |
