In the middle of 2025, Emily’s husband saw an advertisement for Invincible Energy on Facebook and decided to give the business a call.
The couple already had solar panels on the roof of their home in Victoria’s Gippsland region, but they had no battery and the panels weren’t bringing down the energy bills as much as they had hoped.
A salesperson from Invincible Energy promised them that with the federal government’s solar battery rebate, as well as installing new solar panels with the Victorian rebate and a no-interest loan, the couple could soon be completely off the grid.
“The idea of no power bills, it seemed too good to be true,” Emily says.
While the deal sounded good, the couple quickly ran into a world of headaches with the company
While the deal sounded good, the couple quickly ran into a world of headaches with the company.
Invincible Energy’s cavalier approach to sales and solar installations have been documented, including in a CHOICE article in August 2025, and have led the company to being banned by the Victorian government’s Solar Victoria rebate scheme and suspended from working with at least one major loan provider.
Emily’s case is just the latest in a string of allegations of misconduct tied to Invincible Energy, which appears to be now operating hand in hand with another solar company under a new name.
Emily and her husband received solar panels that were a different brand to what they ordered. They also never received the government rebates the company said they could get.
Months on, they have been left with a $15,000 loan for a solar system that is not performing as promised.
“I feel like we were just super vulnerable, having a new baby, and they just really took advantage of that and steamrolled us,” Emily says.
The documents for Emily’s $15,000 loan, which came from buy now, pay later style loan provider Plenti, said her solar panels were installed by a company called Horus Energy.
It was the first time she had heard of the company.
Person installing solar panels
Horus-Invincible connections
When the Victorian government’s Solar Victoria rebate scheme moved to cancel the accreditation of Invincible Energy in May 2025 due to “serious breaches of the program requirements”, they detected that the director of the company was also the director at another solar retailer operating in the state.
This was Horus Energy, which had its participation in the government’s program suspended in June 2025.
“Public records confirm Invincible Energy and Horus Energy shared a common Director at the time of Invincible Energy’s breaches to customer protections. When this Director moved to another company and poor behaviour continued under Horus Energy, we took immediate action,” a spokesperson from Solar Victoria tells CHOICE.
CHOICE sent questions to both Invincible Energy and Horus Energy about the links between the two companies and allegations of misconduct. Neither has responded
“Both companies have now been permanently removed from the program, and the Directors responsible have been disqualified from any future involvement in the Solar Homes Program. This sends a clear message: we will act against anyone who undermines consumer protections.”
A search of ASIC records shows the current directors of both companies share a residential address in Melbourne, and one of the major shareholders of Horus Energy also holds the same residential address as the former director of Invincible Energy.
CHOICE sent questions to both Invincible Energy and Horus Energy about the links between the two companies and allegations of misconduct. Neither has responded.
Commenting for a prior article, Invincible Energy denied any wrongdoing and said complaints were isolated cases. Most customers were satisfied with their installations, the company claimed.
“We remain committed to compliance, transparency, and customer care,” the company said in August 2025.
The loan provider that Emily was referred to, Plenti, says that Horus Energy was accredited to refer customers to them in September 2024 following the “usual accreditation and due diligence process”.
“As part of this due diligence we identified that there was a potential link between Horus Energy and Invincible Energy, and this was noted in our internal systems,” a Plenti spokesperson says.
But the delay between noticing the issue and taking action was long. Plenti says it wasn’t until July 2025 that the lender commenced an investigation into Horus Energy’s operations and referrals, including sales practices and dispute resolution processes. They went on to suspend Horus Energy’s accreditation on 14 August 2025 and later removed the company permanently.
Plenti is currently the third most complained about credit provider of its category, according to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
Salesperson selling solar panels to potential client
Rebates unavailable
Like Invincible Energy, it seems Horus is not being upfront with potential customers.
We called Horus Energy in December 2025 posing as a customer and asked the salesperson if Victorian rebates were available. The salesperson said that they were.
Solar Victoria told CHOICE there was little they could do to stop companies from misleading customers once a retailer had been booted from the program.
“Solar Victoria is only able to enforce program-related issues. When retailers are removed from the Solar Homes Program, Solar Victoria does not have the means to address further misconduct outside of a cease-and-desist letter if they continue to make claims about our program,” a spokesperson says. “We work closely with Consumer Affairs Victoria and the ACCC to report any misconduct.”
Stronger consumer protections needed
The Consumer Action Law Centre in Melbourne has dealt with cases involving customers of both Invincible Energy and Horus Energy. Lawyer Katie Valenta says consumer protections aren’t keeping up, especially for vulnerable consumers making a big purchase like solar.
“It seems like overall the approach by these retailers is to rush consumers through the transaction and the installation, so they don’t have time to think about the transaction and what other options might be,” she says.
Lawyer Katie Valenta says consumer protections aren’t keeping up, especially for vulnerable consumers making a big purchase like solar
“It is very alarming to hear that Invincible Energy appears to be moving their operations over to a new name company. Customers often don’t have a lot of information going into a transaction, so when they are forewarned about a certain operator that can be an important thing,” she adds.
Jarni Blakkarly is an award-winning Investigative Journalist at CHOICE. Jarni has worked for news organisations such as SBS, Reuters, Al Jazeera English, ABC 730, Radio National, BBC World Service and Deutsche Welle.
Jarni won the Walkley Foundation's young journalist of the year student category award in 2016 and was the recipient of a Melbourne Press Club Michael Gordon fellowship in 2022. In 2023 he was a highly commended finalist in the Quill Awards and a winner at the 2024 Excellence in Civil Liberties journalism awards. In 2024 he was elected to serve on the Federal Council (National Media Section) of the MEAA. Jarni has a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). LinkedIn
Jarni Blakkarly is an award-winning Investigative Journalist at CHOICE. Jarni has worked for news organisations such as SBS, Reuters, Al Jazeera English, ABC 730, Radio National, BBC World Service and Deutsche Welle.
Jarni won the Walkley Foundation's young journalist of the year student category award in 2016 and was the recipient of a Melbourne Press Club Michael Gordon fellowship in 2022. In 2023 he was a highly commended finalist in the Quill Awards and a winner at the 2024 Excellence in Civil Liberties journalism awards. In 2024 he was elected to serve on the Federal Council (National Media Section) of the MEAA. Jarni has a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). LinkedIn
For more than 60 years, we've been making a difference for Australian consumers. In that time, we've never taken ads or sponsorship.
Instead we're funded by members who value expert reviews and independent product testing.
With no self-interest behind our advice, you don't just buy smarter, you get the answers that you need.
You know without hesitation what's safe for you and your family. And our recent sunscreens test showed just how important it is to keep business claims in check.
So you'll never be alone when something goes wrong or a business treats you unfairly.
