Revocation of Green Target Australia's VEU program accreditation

In February 2023, we revoked the accreditation of Pan West Group Australia Pty Ltd, trading as Green Target Australia (GTA), under the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program, for failing to comply with a condition imposed on its accreditation, after allegedly breaching program rules.

In November 2022, we required GTA to engage an independent auditor to test its’s processes and procedures for auditing the creation of Victorian energy efficiency certificates, with a final report required to be submitted in January 2023.

This followed a six-month investigation involving energy efficient lighting upgrades across farms and businesses in regional Victoria. The commission alleged that the accredited person had repeatedly but unintentionally created Victorian energy efficiency certificates for activities, undertaken by subcontractors, which did not fully meet our compliance requirements.

GTA failed to submit a final independent audit report as required by the condition and we revoked its accreditation, effective from 3 February 2023.

We will not hesitate to take enforcement action should accredited persons breach program rules or fail to comply with commission decisions.

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:

• Failure to comply with a condition imposed under section 40A(2)(c) of the Victorian Energy Efficiency Target Act.

Steps taken

We decided:

• To revoke Green Target Australia’s accreditation under the Victorian Energy Upgrades program effective from 3 February 2023.