LED Saves alleged compliance breach 2023

LED Saves self-reported a number of activities that were completed by sub-contractors and were suspected to be non-compliant with the VEET Act and Regulations. LED Saves created Victorian energy efficiency certificates for activities, undertaken by its subcontractors, that did not fully meet our compliance requirements.

The commission conducted an investigation with the cooperation of LED Saves throughout October 2021 to December 2022.

On 9 December 2022, the commission ordered LED Saves to surrender 9,455 energy efficiency certificates worth approximately $650,000, over allegations and are required to conduct an independent audit of their processes and procedures.

LED Saves was spared a suspension from the program because it self-reported the matter to the commission and cooperated during every stage of the investigation.

LED Saves also complied with the decisions made by the commission.

The commission’s responsibility is to maintain the integrity of the Victorian Energy Upgrades program and confidence in the energy efficiency benefits delivered to consumers.  The commission will not hesitate to take enforcement action should accredited persons breach program rules or fail to comply with commission orders.

All accredited persons are urged to review their business activities, practices and behaviours to ensure they follow the program rules.

Alleged breaches

The alleged breaches of the rules included:

• overstating the level of pre-upgrade energy use and alteration of in-situ environment (used to measure the energy savings gained).
• conducting an ineligible form of upgrade of the purpose of the prescribed activity.

Our determination

We determined that LED Saves:

• need to surrender 9,455 claimed certificates to ensure there is no impact on the certificate market from the non-compliant activities
• must conduct an independent audit to review its internal processes and procedures to ensure this does not happen again.