“Not a good look:” CEC trips up on day one in new role, promises to do better

The Clean Energy Council (CEC) has got off to a less than ideal start in its renewed role of product list manager for the federal rooftop solar rebate, after badly bungling a registration on day one of its “new and improved” service.

Reports emerged on Friday that Brisbane-based semiconductor manufacturer AERL was mistakenly charged $5,500 instead of $1,100 when attempting to register a battery charger via the CEC’s online product listing portal.

In an email to One Step Off The Grid on Friday morning, AERL’s Peter Watkinson said that efforts to contact the CEC – both over the phone and via email – had so far been unsuccessful.

“Normally we would be quite understanding about something like this, but when you’re reappointed on promises of a new and improved process, and this is our first experience, it’s not a good look,” he said.

The timing is certainly unfortunate, with the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) last Thursday confirming the CEC’s reappointment as the product listing body for solar panels, batteries, inverters and other equipment eligible under the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES).

The decision to keep the CEC in the role was controversial – industry consultation on the subject attracted 175 submissions, many of which complained of poor communication, clunky systems, oblique processes and high costs.

But the CER said last week assured the industry it had designed “new service level standards with non-negotiable requirements” and that the CEC was ready to deliver a “new and improved” service, as set out in its application for the job.

One Step Off The Grid spoke to the Clean Energy Council on Friday and again on Wednesday and has been informed that it has resolved this particular issue with AERL, which it says was a computer system error.

In a statement on LinkedIn, the CEC said the application came through as a standard inverter application rather than for power conversion equipment.

“We’ve reached out to the applicant and provided a refund. We can see that the application process for power conversion equipment can be clearer and will be taking steps to update this,” the LinkedIn statement said.

“The success of the rooftop solar and storage industry in Australia is a top priority for the Clean Energy Council. We have already taken steps to drive enhancements to the Products program including by doubling the capacity of our Products team.

“Our application to the Clean Energy Regulator included a detailed plan to make improvements to the program and we look forward to working with them and with industry as we drive improvements.”

Sophie Vorrath

Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and deputy editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.