Commission demands installer make good for falsely claiming energy efficiency activities

Victoria’s energy regulator has ordered Wattly Pty Ltd to surrender almost 38,000 Victorian energy efficiency certificates* after being found to have breached the rules of the Victorian Energy Upgrades program (formerly known as the Victorian Energy Efficiency Target scheme).

The Essential Services Commission administers the program for the Victorian government.

Commission chair Ron Ben-David says a routine audit identified anomalies, leading to a 10‑month investigation into Wattly that uncovered wide-spread breaches.

“It is unacceptable that Wattly did not have the required internal processes in place to identify the problem,” he said.

Breaches included:

• overstating the number of energy-efficient lamps installed
• incorrectly stating the type of lights in place before the upgrade was undertaken
• overstating the level of pre-upgrade energy use, which is used to measure the energy savings gained.

Dr Ben-David says while the installations were undertaken by a subcontractor, Wattly was responsible as the accredited business for ensuring the upgrades complied with the rules.

“In addition to being ordered to surrender 37,919 certificates, Wattly must also engage an independent auditor to evaluate its processes and procedures to ensure this does not happen again,” he said.

The Victorian Energy Upgrades program has led to millions of inefficient energy products being removed from households and businesses across Victoria, reducing greenhouse gases emissions. Since 2009, the program has generated around 50 million energy efficiency certificates (representing a reduction of around 50 million tonnes of greenhouse gases).

*Certificates have traded between $19.50 and $21.50 on the spot market over the last four weeks.