Solar Installer Convicted of Fraud Amid Battery Rebate Allegations
A solar installer from Victoria has narrowly escaped receiving a community corrections order after being convicted and fined for fraudulent actions concerning the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) which governs federal rebates for rooftop solar and home batteries.
The Clean Energy Regulator (CER), responsible for overseeing the SRES and the Cheaper Home Batteries schemes, announced on Thursday that installer Toby Payne had pleaded guilty in the Frankston Magistrates’ Court to deliberately providing a false statement in a statutory declaration, resulting in a $10,000 fine.
Fraudulent Claims Discovered
Investigators from the CER uncovered that Payne had falsely asserted in Commonwealth statutory declarations that he had been present at solar installations in Melbourne while he was actually interstate during that period. These declarations were essential for generating small-scale technology certificates (STCs) under the scheme.
This conviction and penalty come against a backdrop of nearly 100 reports of potential fraudulent activities within the industry, particularly concerning federal Labor’s successful Cheaper Home Batteries scheme. An ABC report indicates that these allegations were part of “hundreds of pages” procured from the CER via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, although it did not specify any ongoing regulatory actions. The FOI documents revealed 95 tip-offs received between March and June related mainly to the Cheaper Home Batteries Programme.
Call for Inquiry into Home Battery Rebate Scheme
Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan from the Coalition has seized upon these claims to advocate for a Senate inquiry into the home battery rebate scheme. He questioned federal energy minister Chris Bowen during question time, seeking assurances that all batteries installed under the scheme met safety and technical standards.
In response, Bowen assured Parliament that every battery installation had conformed to the SRES, describing it as “one of the world’s most rigorous compliance schemes,” operational since 2011 under successive governments. He also reported that the SRES had received 315 complaints over the past year concerning solar panel, battery, and solar hot water installations, constituting just 0.04% of the 800,000 installations carried out in that time.
Regulatory Actions Taken
Bowen noted that of those complaints, 106 were referred for enforcement actions, with 17 progressing to formal investigations. He emphasised that this figure represents only 0.002% of the more than 530,000 home battery installations and 800,000 total installations, highlighting the rarity of significant issues.
In a detailed statement on Thursday, the regulator reinforced that it takes serious non-compliance allegations very seriously, asserting that appropriate enforcement measures will be executed wherever necessary. “We have a zero tolerance policy for fraud,” the CER stated, ensuring that enforcement action will follow as dictated by their compliance, education, and enforcement policy.
Moreover, the CER has emphasised that its investigations into fraudulent activities are critical to its compliance activities. Over the past year, it has suspended and removed five registered individuals along with two accredited installers from participating in the SRES, thereby preventing them from creating STCs and rendering installations by these installers ineligible for STCs.
This latest case serves as a sober reminder of the seriousness of the matter, as the regulator declares that the offence was significant, yet the defendant’s guilty plea facilitated a sentence that avoided jail or a community corrections order.
The CER has reiterated that statutory declarations are legally binding documents that must contain truthful and accurate information. The act of providing false statements, such as claiming onsite presence when it did not occur, constitutes a severe offence under Commonwealth law and jeopardises the integrity of the schemes.
