Sustainable Energy Development Authority Malaysia (Seda Malaysia) has warned the public on the existence of solar photovoltaic (PV) scams on residential rooftop applications by certain companies.

Chief Executive Officer of Seda, Catherine Ridu said as of October this year, Seda had received 77 fraudulent cases involving the PV and one of the cases was reported in Sabah.

"Members of the public have lodged complaints with Seda that certain companies have been promoting solar PV sales and imposing a hefty deposit with promise that solar PV quota can be guaranteed. While more cases were reported in Peninsular Malaysia, Seda is starting to notice complaints coming from Sabah," Ridu told reporters at a Seminar on Ocean Renewable Energy and the Signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Green Power Solutions Sdn Bhd and Current 2 Current International, LLC here today.

The MoU was witnessed by the Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili.

She advised members of the public to check with the Seda official website, www.seda.gov.my for future quota release announcements, adding in Sabah and Labuan, Seda anticipated to release a maximum of 3MW solar PV quota for 2015.

She said no solar PV sales agent can guarantee to secure quota.

"Only deal with solar PV companies which are recognised by Seda to be 'PV Authorized Agents. A list of PV authorized agents can be found in Seda's website. Any deposit required by the PV companies before securing a quota should not exceeded RM1,000.

"With the exception of deposit payment, all other payments are recommended to be on non-cash basis, payable only to PV companies that are recognised by Seda," she added.

According to Ridu, companies registered with Seda, if found to be involved in any fraud or scam, would be de-listed from its directory and would not be able to take part in the feed-in-tariff (FiT) programmes as installers.

Members of the public are also encouraged to lodge police reports on PV companies involved in such fraud or scam.