The Essential Services Commission has suspended the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) accreditation of Royal One Pty Ltd for allegedly submitting doctored photos and falsified customer details to fraudulently claim certificates for energy efficiency projects.
The VEU program is an energy efficiency program that helps Victorians cut their energy bills by supporting households and businesses to use energy more efficiently. Accredited businesses undertake energy efficiency upgrades that entitle them to create Victorian energy efficiency certificates, which they can then sell.
This is the fourth enforcement action resulting from the commission's Fraud Taskforce - a unit focussed on stamping out fraudulent activity in the VEU program.
The taskforce reviewed photos Royal One submitted as evidence of upgrades and found markers that some photos had been digitally alerted. The inconsistencies were confirmed using third party data matching.
Phone audits of Royal One's listed consumers provided further evidence of this attempted fraud.
Royal One is no longer accredited under the VEU program, as its VEU accreditation expired shortly after the suspension. Royal One did not apply to renew its accreditation.
The commission has the power to cancel accreditation and ban businesses from the VEU program. Had Royal One applied to renew its accreditation, the commission would have considered this conduct when assessing whether it was fit and proper, and competent and capable to participate in the program.
Quotes attributable to Essential Services Commission Chairperson and Commissioner Gerard Brody
"The Fraud Taskforce continues its important work stamping out fraudulent activity to support VEU program integrity."
"The taskforce uses data, tip-offs and other intelligence to identify areas of unusual activity and in this case, uncovered what we allege to be deliberate and fraudulent conduct from Royal One."
"Immediately suspending Royal One directly affected their ability to generate income from the VEU program. The message is clear - deliberately breaking the rules puts your business at risk."
