Victorian business has been forced to surrender $3 million worth of carbon credits
A Victorian business has had to surrender $3m worth of carbon credits amid allegations of fraud as Labor’s free fridges scheme is suspended after it was revealed the system was being rorted.
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A Victorian business has been forced to surrender $3 million worth of carbon credits and has been suspended from the state’s energy upgrades scheme amid allegations of fraud.
It is the second time this month the Victorian Energy Upgrades program (VEU) has come under scrutiny amid concerns installers are rorting the state’s net zero initiative.
On Thursday, the state government suspended carbon credits for installing energy-efficient fridges after the Herald Sun revealed widespread rorting and dumping of appliances.
But the Essential Services Commission (ESC) has now dramatically moved to confiscate 47,909 carbon credits from a Melbourne-based company trading as Australian State Energy Upgrades (AESU) over similar concerns.
The total value of the credits are about $3 million.
Under the VEU, installers set up energy-efficient appliances in homes and businesses to reduce demand on the electricity grid and lower emissions.
In return they receive valuable carbon credits which can be sold on to energy retailers as part of their requirements to drive down emissions,
After receiving a tip off about serious breaches of the program in regional Victoria, the ESC launched a six-month investigation into the AESU business.
This included energy-efficient lights installed into properties that were not connected to power, which meant they were not reducing emissions in any way.
There have also been allegations the business made false claims over the number of lights being replaced.
Commissioner Kate Symons said the alleged breaches were significant and systemic.
“Evidence obtained by the commission suggests there was deliberate noncompliance or potentially fraudulent conduct involved,” she said.
“Some of the properties we inspected did not even have power connected to the premises that ASEU reported as having received energy efficiency upgrades.
“We consider this to be a serious breach of the program rules, a breach of public trust in the program, and unacceptable.”
The matter has been referred to Victoria Police and Energy Safe Victoria.
Ms Symons said the lights were installed by two different subcontractors but ASEU was the responsible for following the rules as the accredited installer.
She urged all installers to follow the rules.
“Our responsibility is to maintain the integrity of the program and confidence in the energy efficiency benefits delivered to consumers,” Ms Symons said.
“The commission will not hesitate to take enforcement action against accredited persons where we find breaches of the program rules.
In a bizarre bungle, carbon credits for the VEU were so lucrative that installers began giving away free fridges to people who did not want or need them.
A typical display fridge was fetching 50 to 60 credits, worth $3000, and some installers were making a profit supplying them for free.
However this meant the appliances were being dumped en masse in an effort to collect the valuable credits, with Victorians waking up to find a dozen fridges outside their door.
Some people would order a single fridge only for a truck to arrive with several more.
Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio suspended carbon credits for these products pending a full investigation.
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