Ask ten installers how long their trader takes to pay and you will hear the same answer more often than any other: about a week, sometimes two. Plenty of crews treat that as the cost of doing business. It does not have to be, and the difference shows up in your bank balance more than in your rate card.
The five to ten day norm
Most traders pay somewhere between five and ten business days after a claim is lodged. Nobody designed that range for your benefit. It exists because of how a trader’s own pipeline works.
- Registry processing. After a claim is created in the Registry, certificates are validated and become tradeable. That takes time.
- Compliance review. If the trader checks claims after receiving them, any query bounces back to you and restarts the clock.
- Surrender and settlement cycles. A trader that pays you only after it has on-sold the certificate is paying you on someone else’s timetable.
- Batch payment runs. Some traders pay on set days, so a claim cleared on Tuesday waits for Friday.
Each of these is a reason, and none is a law. A trader that funds payments up front, checks claims before lodgement and pays daily can close most of that gap. The cost sits with the trader, which is why the price they are able to pay and the speed they pay at are linked. You should ask about both.
What 24-hour settlement changes
The point of faster settlement is not novelty. It is that your working capital turns over faster.
A solar or battery crew funds a job before it is paid for. Panels, inverters, batteries, consumables, wages and subcontractors go out in the first days. The STC discount is often a significant slice of the customer’s price, so when it arrives late, you are lending that money to your trader for a week or more.
Faster settlement means:
- Less reliance on overdrafts, credit cards or supplier terms to bridge the gap
- Stock bought on better terms because you can pay on time
- Wages and subbies paid without juggling
- A cleaner view of what a job actually made
A worked cash-flow example
These figures are illustrative, and your numbers will differ. Take a crew doing 20 jobs a month, with an average of 40 STCs a job, at a net price of $38.00 per STC.
- Certificates per month: 20 x 40 = 800
- STC income per month: 800 x $38.00 = $30,400
- Per working day (about 21 days): roughly $1,450
Now compare two settlement times.
| Paid in ~8 business days | Paid in 1 business day | |
|---|---|---|
| Average STC money owed to you at any time | about $11,600 | about $1,450 |
| Money “lent” to your trader | about $11,600 | about $1,450 |
At eight business days, you have roughly $11,600 of your own earnings sitting with someone else at any moment. Switch to next-day settlement and that drops to around $1,450. The difference, a little over $10,000, is released into your business permanently, not just once. That is the equivalent of an interest-free float you no longer need to fund.
If you borrowed that $10,000 on a business card at, say, 20 per cent a year, the saving would be about $2,000 a year in interest alone. If you do not borrow it, the benefit shows up as the ability to buy stock earlier, take supplier discounts and sleep better. These are illustrations, not promises, but the arithmetic holds at any volume.
What actually speeds payment up
It is not magic. Three things make the biggest difference.
Pre-checked claims
A rejected or queried claim is the single largest cause of delay. If the compliance desk reviews the photos, serials, forms and installation details before anything is lodged, the claim clears first time far more often. Our piece on the top STC claim rejection reasons lists what trips claims up and how to avoid it.
A trader that funds payment itself
If a trader pays you from its own balance sheet rather than waiting for a downstream buyer, your payment is not tied to their sales. That is how Energy Merchants works, with settlement backed by REC Traders, who have been trading certificates since 2004.
Clear data up front
Complete uploads on the first attempt, a signed assignment form, serials that can be read, and photos that meet the requirements. See STC photo requirements for the checklist your installers should work from.
What to ask your trader about payment
- How many business days from lodgement to money in my account?
- Is that in writing?
- Does the clock start at lodgement or at approval?
- Is there a different time for new accounts?
- Are there payment run days, or is it daily?
Our own answer: settlement within 24 hours of sign-off for established partners, and 48 to 72 hours for the first claim from a new partner while we verify your details. After that you are on 24-hour settlement. That is the promise, and you can read the rest of the process on the how it works page.
Is faster payment worth a lower rate?
It depends on the gap. If one trader pays a few cents more per STC but takes eight days longer, compare the two on a net basis. On a 40 STC job a five cent difference is $2. For most crews the value of the cash arriving a week earlier outweighs that, particularly with zero fees on top.
Check today’s published rate on the pricing page, put it next to your current trader’s, and then do the float calculation above. If the result favours moving, our switch guide explains what changes and what does not.