Life Insurance and Income Protection for Wind Turbine, Solar and Battery Technicians

Income Protection

If your wind, solar or battery work stopped for a while through illness or injury, how could the bills get paid?

Part of your income can keep coming in after a waiting period, subject to the policy’s terms, exclusions and the insurer’s assessment.

We’ll compare income protection with you from the insurers willing to consider your work, around your duties and pay.

Income protection can pay a share of your pre-tax income if you can’t work, usually based on earnings in the 12 months before. Each policy has its own definition of disability and most offer a waiting period between 14 days and two years, and exclusions can apply, including to occupations or activities. Insurers usually look at your job and duties when you apply, which can affect whether cover is offered, the benefit periods available and the amount. The insurer decides.

What we look at with you on income protection:

• Tower, roof or switchboard work you couldn’t do for a while, and how some policies measure that against your usual occupation
• Lighter duties during a recovery, and the reduced payments some policies make if your pay drops below a set level
• Commissioning, design or training know-how, if a long claim moves to a wider test of what you’re suited to
• Rent or mortgage and living costs in a budget, showing what you’d want, apart from the percentage of income a policy pays
• Waiting periods weighed against your savings when retailer jobs stop and no sick leave is paid
• Minimum hours in a policy, if it sets them, read against the gaps between your projects and job sheets
• Workers compensation from a state, territory or Commonwealth scheme, if you qualify, and how it may reduce monthly payments from a policy
• Handover or the last job sheet on a contract: income protection is generally for illness or injury rather than losing a job

Learn more about Income Protection

Life Insurance

Is anyone relying on the income your wind, solar or battery work brings in?

Your beneficiaries could receive a lump sum towards debts, living costs and the plans you’ve made.

We’ll work through a life cover amount with you from your debts and anyone relying on your income.

Life cover can pay a lump sum to your beneficiaries if you pass away, and some policies include terminal illness cover. Moneysmart notes it can help if you have large debts or a mortgage, and insurers usually ask your age and job when you apply. If no beneficiary is named, your estate or the super trustee may decide where the money goes.

What we weigh up with you on life cover:

• Van and test gear finance, added to the amount you’d want to leave for the people you look after
• Whose name is on your van or tools finance, and what that could leave behind for someone else to repay
• Regular bills and any mortgage paid from your installation or service income, worked into the amount
• Statements from funds you joined on earlier projects, checked for life cover you may have forgotten
• Naming the people you’d want to receive a super payout, through a nomination that satisfies the trustee
• Two covers joined as one, where a TPD payout may reduce what your beneficiaries receive
• Job questions on a life application, answered plainly for your mix of tower, roof, electrical or design work
• Your partner’s own plans and insurance, if you have a partner, and the money your installs or service work brings home

Learn more about Life Insurance

TPD Insurance

What could support your plans if you could never work again?

If you meet the policy’s definition and can’t work again, a lump sum can go towards debts and plans.

We can explain how TPD definitions read technical skills, from tower and roof work through to design.

An own occupation definition looks at your usual job, while an any occupation definition looks at jobs suited to your education, training or experience. Moneysmart notes own occupation cover is usually only available outside super. A fund’s definition can differ again, so it’s worth reading your own, and a TPD payment may reduce any life cover packaged with it.

What we compare with you on TPD:

• Cover tied to your usual job, if offered for this work, and Moneysmart’s note that it’s usually outside super
• Electrical, commissioning or design know-how, and whether an any occupation test might treat those skills as suited work
• How a fund’s TPD definition reads someone who can no longer climb but could work at a desk
• Job titles held on each fund’s file, compared with the towers, roofs or plans you work on today
• Tests based on tasks of daily life rather than a job, found in some TPD policies and worth reading
• Van finance and gear loans you’d owe, set against what a TPD payout could clear
• Months away from site and a permanent end to working: two different needs, for income protection and for TPD
• Swapping field work for design or planning, and what your usual job then becomes under a TPD policy

Learn more about TPD Insurance

Trauma Insurance

When a serious diagnosis means time away from work, what could help with treatment costs?

A trauma policy can pay a lump sum for a listed condition that meets its definition and isn’t excluded.

We can talk through what a trauma policy lists and how a lump sum could sit beside income protection.

Each trauma policy sets out the conditions it covers, with its own definition for each. Moneysmart notes that medical definitions can be different between insurers. New trauma cover can’t be held inside super, which has been the rule for policies written since 1 July 2014.

What we read with you in a trauma policy:

• Wording for each illness a policy names, taken line by line, since insurers can define illnesses differently
• Certain listed illnesses at a lesser stage, and the smaller payment some wordings set out
• Premiums paid from your own pocket, since this lump sum cover isn’t available through super for new policies
• Time off for treatment during another policy’s waiting period, and what a trauma benefit could pay for
• Van finance and other work bills while you’re having treatment, and how a trauma payment might be used
• Trauma sitting with life in a single policy, and the smaller death benefit that can follow a payout
• A trauma policy from years ago, if you hold one, weighed up before you cancel or change it
• Tax questions on a lump sum payment, which an accountant can answer before you count on the money

Learn more about Trauma Insurance

Cover in Super

Would cover in a fund from an earlier job suit the work you do now?

Reading each fund’s cover before you change anything can show what you have and what you pay for it.

Together, we’ll list the cover in each fund you hold and the job on its record, before anything changes.

Premiums for cover in super are deducted from your balance. Default cover inside super can usually be issued without medical checks, though it may carry pre-existing condition rules set out in the fund’s PDS, and increasing it is usually underwritten like any other application. Default cover is for a set amount, so it might not match your needs.

What we check in each fund with you:

• Accounts opened on earlier builds or with past employers, each one read for the cover inside
• A fund that has your job recorded incorrectly, and Moneysmart’s suggestion to contact them
• Changing employers between projects, where your super generally goes, and what that could mean for any cover
• Joining a fund before 25, where you may have to ask for insurance, depending on your job and that fund
• Rules in a fund’s PDS on illnesses you had before joining, read before you count on a claim
• The price of this insurance, paid from your balance, set beside what you’d want it to do
• Rolling several accounts into one, and the insurance you could give up by doing so
• A bigger sum insured in a fund for a van loan or children, usually needing its own application

Learn more about Superannuation

Tower, Roof and Electrical Work

How clearly could an insurer see what your week involves, from towers and roofs to switchboards or design?

Setting out your duties as they are gives an insurer a clear picture of your work.

Together, we’ll write down your duties for any application and check how a policy or fund records them.

Two people with the same job title can spend their weeks very differently, so what you do is worth writing down plainly. Since 5 October 2021, the duty when applying for consumer life cover is to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation, which means answering the questions asked with reasonable care.

What we write down with you about your work:

• Tower climbs, with the share of your week spent inside or on a turbine, if your work includes them
• Roof work on solar jobs, and how often you do it compared with work from the ground
• Switchboard connections, listed with any licence your work needs as a fact of the job
• High or low voltage work you’re authorised for, named plainly when an application asks
• Commissioning and testing time on site, counted separately from installation work
• Design, planning or desk time, and the share of your hours it takes up each week
• Travel between sites, if your work has it, including how long you’re away each time
• Accreditation or tickets you hold, listed so the application matches the work you do

Learn more about Personal Insurance

Projects, Contracts and Accreditation

When a project ends or your contract changes, what could that mean for any cover you hold?

Looking at cover before the change can show what stays, what changes and what you might apply for.

We’ll talk through what a move between wages, per-job work and your own business could mean for your cover.

Self-employed people don’t have paid holidays or sick leave, Moneysmart notes, and it suggests checking how leaving wages affects cover through your super. A business may have to pay your super if more than half the contract’s value is for your labour, you’re not paid for a set result and you can’t delegate the work, but not under a contract with your company, trust or partnership. An ABN doesn’t settle it, and an accountant or the ATO can confirm.

What we look at with you before the change:

• Moving from wages to per-job work, and how long savings could last with no paid sick leave
• Insurance through your super, looked at before your last day on wages
• Whether a retailer or installer has to pay your super: paid mainly for labour, not a result, on work you can’t delegate
• A contract through your own company, trust or partnership, where the hirer doesn’t have to pay your super
• Which income counts for income protection after a move to per-job work, asked of each insurer
• A project ending and cover through that employer, which may not continue, so worth asking before your last day
• Accreditation or a licence you hold, listed as a fact of your job, with renewals for the issuing body or licensing regulator
• Liability, tools and vehicle insurance, which a general insurance broker can advise on apart from personal cover

Learn more about Personal Insurance

When to Review Your Cover

What might a change in your work or at home mean for any cover you hold?

Work and home changes can be a good reason to read your cover again.

We can go through what you hold, if anything, beside the work you do and your life at home.

This work can move from a build to service work, from installing to design, or from wages to your own invoices. Default cover through super is for a set amount, so it might not match your needs. A change at work or home is a good reason to book a conversation, and we can read through a policy or fund statement with you. The insurer decides on any new application.

Situations worth raising with us in a conversation:

• A change from site builds to service work, and the job title on your fund or policy papers
• From installer to designer, and how income protection and TPD definitions may treat desk-based duties as your job
• Leaving payroll for retailer subcontracts, and money during an injury: who qualifies for workers compensation is set by each scheme
• Financing your first work van, and the life or TPD sum you’d like in place beside that loan
• Project wind-down with your employer, and what to ask about work-related cover while you’re still on the payroll
• Under 25 in a new fund, and finding out if cover begins by itself for your job
• A new mortgage, a baby or a relationship change, if that’s your situation, and what you’d ask of your cover
• Stepping off towers or roofs into team leading or training, and how a policy then reads your job

Learn more about Personal Insurance

Making a Claim

Could someone beside you through a claim make it easier, from the first form to the decision?

Someone helping with forms and follow-up can take some pressure off while the insurer or fund assesses a claim.

Together, we’ll lodge your claim and stay in touch through each step while the insurer or fund assesses it.

Start with whoever you bought the cover through, Moneysmart says, or your employer for cover through an employment arrangement. Insurers can ask for your work duties, including physical requirements, and weekly hours, plus payslips and tax returns, or financial statements if you’re self-employed. The insurer, or the fund for cover in super, assesses the claim, and a complaint goes first to the insurer or fund, then to AFCA.

How we help with a claim:

• The right first contact for your claim, found together from your cover documents or super account
• A written account of your usual duties and hours, from tower and roof work to electrical or design
• Retailer job sheets, books or payslips, whichever an insurer or fund requests as proof of earnings
• Medical reports, and questions for your doctor about the physical side of your usual tasks
• An injury on site with a workers compensation matter running too, separate from your insurer’s assessment
• Other income during time off, including scheme payments, which a policy’s terms may offset against its benefit
• Back at work part of the week, and what partial benefit terms in some policies say about your earnings
• Complaints begin at the insurer or fund, using its own process, and can then go to AFCA

Health Conditions & Illnesses

Could a health condition change the cover an insurer offers you?

Our guides explain what insurers may ask about common conditions, and a health condition doesn’t necessarily rule out cover.

We can help you prepare an application when you have a health condition or a past illness.

Underwriting is how an insurer assesses an application and decides whether to offer cover, on what terms and at what price. Possible outcomes include standard terms, a higher premium, an exclusion, a request to apply again later, or a decline.

Guides by health condition:

• Cover with a health condition: where to start
• Autoimmune conditions
• Back or joint conditions
• Blood conditions
• Cancer history
• Diabetes
• Digestive conditions
• Eye or hearing conditions
• Heart conditions
• HIV or hepatitis
• Kidney conditions
• Mental health conditions
• Neurological conditions
• Respiratory or sleep conditions
• Weight, smoking or alcohol history
• Women’s health conditions