{"id":35685,"date":"2019-12-13T05:46:50","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T19:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=35685"},"modified":"2019-12-13T05:46:50","modified_gmt":"2019-12-12T19:16:50","slug":"solar-installer-fraud-mb1329","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-installer-fraud-mb1329\/","title":{"rendered":"Fraud Conviction For Solar Installer\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Clean<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, a CEC accredited solar installer and licenced electrician was convicted over solar installations he claimed to have performed – but didn’t.<\/p>\n

According to the Clean Energy Regulator, the installer\/electrician from Wagga Wagga signed Small-scale Technology Certificate (STC) documents for eight solar power system installations in 2016 that he didn’t install. STCs, which have a value, are claimed with eligible installations and form the basis of Australia’s major solar subsidy<\/a>. Additionally, the installer signed Certificates of Electrical Compliance for the installations.<\/p>\n

After pleading guilty to breaching section 145.5 of the Criminal Code Act 19951<\/a><\/sup>, he was given an 18-month good behaviour bond and fined $5,000 by Wagga Wagga Local Court. The maximum penalty for the offence is 7 years imprisonment.<\/p>\n

The installations actually occurred, but installed by another party. The Clean Energy Regulator notes when the offending was identified, the systems were inspected and found to be to standard in terms of safety. However, it doesn’t further clarify<\/a> what happened.<\/p>\n

STC Creation Compliance An Ongoing Challenge<\/h2>\n

While the incidents involved occurred in 2016, STC compliance related issues have continued to be a bugbear for the Regulator, whose tasks include oversight of Australia\u2019s Renewable Energy Target and preserving the integrity of the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES).<\/p>\n

Last month, the Regulator expressed frustration<\/a> over what it said were “unacceptably high-levels of wilful and reckless non-compliance\u201d during 2018-19 in relation to STC creation under the SRES.<\/p>\n

Back in October, the Regulator flagged that it and the Clean Energy Council were targeting misuse of accredited solar installer details<\/a>; whereby the installer noted on documentation of a solar power system installation hasn’t performed the install.<\/p>\n

In its December Compliance Update<\/a> released last week, it states for the period July to September 2019, 483,344 STCs in 3,791 separate claims were incorrectly created. This doesn’t mean to say all the claims were deliberately dodgy – STCs claims can be failed for a number of reasons including previously created and registered information, absence of compliance paperwork and incorrect details relating to the systems installed; such as wrong address, system owner and\/or installation date.<\/p>\n

The update also notes several enforceable undertakings the Regulator has entered into over the last few months.<\/p>\n