“Wilful fraud:” Solar installer convicted over faked rooftop jobs

A Clean Energy Council accredited solar installer has been caught out falsely claiming to have installed 11 rooftop solar systems that did not exist, and claiming $50,000 worth of solar rebates.

A Clean Energy Regulator investigation found the director of WA-based Shine Tech Solar, Gavin Brady, submitted 11 false Small-scale Technology Certificate (STC) assignment forms along with certificates of electrical safety between October 2020 and April 2021.

This resulted in the improper creation of 1,390 STCs for the fictional solar systems and the payment of SRES rebate payments totalling $50,000 to Brady, who was – at the time – CEC accredited.

As a result of the CER’s investigation, Brady pleaded guilty in a Moorabbin Court this week to five offences of dishonesty under the Commonwealth Criminal Code.

In sentencing, the magistrate found Brady had obtained money by submitting false documents to the tune of $50,000 and sentenced him to a two-year Community Correction Order, comprising 300 hours of unpaid community work.

Brady was also ordered to repay the amount of $48,528 – the value of the surrendered small-scale technology certificates that were unlawfully created. Brady has also had his CEC accreditation suspended.

CER’s acting general manager of compliance, Thomas Stoddart, says the regulator has zero tolerance for wilful fraud.

“Installers who attempt to benefit from making false statements regarding STC eligibility – whether they haven’t been on site for the installation, or the installation simply doesn’t exist – will get caught,” Stoddart said.

“As this case shows, this practice runs the risk of prosecution, a criminal conviction and the loss of livelihood through accreditation suspension.”

“The CER expects information provided to it to be true and correct and will take enforcement action where it is warranted,” he said.

The integrity of the federal government’s Small-Scale Renewable Energy Scheme, or SRES, has been the focus of a suite of reforms and amendments made to the rules governing the scheme at the end of 2021.

Among the key changes to the rules, which came into play in April 2022, is a requirement for rooftop PV installers to prove they were on site during the installation, using evidence such as a photograph with time and date metadata or geo-location data.

The new rule aims to ensure that the accredited installer responsible for the installation of the PV system is on site for the majority of the job, and to avoid situations where installations are not properly supervised, or – in this case – don’t actually exist.