Tradies owed thousands of dollars following the collapse of the country's largest rooftop solar company are worried they'll never get the money they're owed.
SolarZero was placed into surprise liquidation last week, with owner US investment giant BlackRock blaming "unsustainable losses".
Close to 200 workers are owed millions in holiday and redundancy packages.
Iain McIsaac, managing director of solar panel installer Green Van Electrical, called it a "huge dent".
"I've got wages to pay. I've got rent — we've just bought a new building, wholesalers to pay," he said.
"It's a huge dent in the business and mine's less than others but more than others."
McIsaac said dark clouds had been hanging over the business recently, but the liquidation came as a shock.
"Things like this don't fall over overnight. So, it was pretty disappointing that they pulled the pin, you know, three, four weeks before Christmas," he said.
Chris Prince, director of Hiko Electrical Services, said his company was owed around $5000 from SolarZero.
"So, by no means enough to topple us over … From the network that we know that do installs for them [SolarZero], I know some of them are owed tens of thousands."
Alexandra Vranyac-Wheeler, chief executive of trade organisation Master Electricians, said 14 of its members were former installers for SolarZero, and were owed hundreds of thousands.
"The total amount owed is now in excess of $100,000," she said.
"We've actually also had several non-members reach out to us and some of those are owed over $70,000 each."
She called it a "double blow" for an industry that was already struggling in a tough economic climate.
"We're probably still dealing with the Serene heater fallout.This is yet another issue that is really plagued an industry that is struggling," Vranyac-Wheeler said.
The previous government invested around $145 million in taxpayer funds in SolarZero through the Green Investment fund.
Last week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she was seeking "urgent advice" from Treasury.
McIsaac doesn't hold much hope he'll get the money he's owed.
The company offers customers solar power systems with no upfront cost but an ongoing, multi-decade lease.
Business
Wed, Nov 27
"The government will get their taxes. All the secured people will get their money. Us, we won't get anything. I've basically written it off," he said.
Prince said he was "not counting my chickens".
