The Thompson family installed solar panels late last year.

“It was just a way of doing our bit, I suppose, and ultimately saving money,” Mrs Thompson said.

But the family is yet to save any money from the investment because they have the wrong type of electricity meter installed.

The Thompsons have been caught up in a large backlog of customers waiting to have new “gross meters” installed under the NSW government’s Solar Bonus Scheme.

The family needs the new meter so they can be paid for the energy generated by their solar panels.

“So the solar panels work, and the electrician showed us how it puts the power back into the grid, but it’s not actually legal as yet, until this gross meter system gets hooked up,” Mrs Thompson said.

The family could now have to pay increased electricity prices as well, while they wait for a new meter.

“They made it sound so fantastic to get the grant, save money, do the right thing. And so we did that, and it’s just dragging on,” Mrs Thompson said.

“We’ll have to budget more strictly. We budget as it is for our bills, so we’ll just have to increase that amount, which means that another areas will miss out.”

The Thompsons are not the only family with the wrong meter for their solar panels.

Port Macquarie electrician Jamie Harrison said he had a waiting list of 143 people.

Country Energy said supply of gross meters would “continue to be constrained for some months”, but more meters were on the way.

The company said that, under the Solar Bonus Scheme, gross metered customers would be paid 60 cents per kilowatt hour for all electricity generated.

Interim arrangements also could be made so “existing net metered customers” would receive money for excess renewable energy generated.