Victoria’s independent economic regulator has cancelled the Victorian Energy Upgrades accreditation of a business for allegedly continuing to advertise energy upgrades as an accredited business while it was suspended from the program.
The Essential Services Commission (ESC) announced on Tuesday that it had cancelled the accreditation of A.K. Alvi Enterprises Pty Ltd, which had been trading as Zerowatt.
According to the ESC, A.K. Alvi/Zerowatt allegedly continued to advertise energy upgrades as an accredited business within the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program, despite having been suspended from the program in August 2025.
The commission initially suspended A.K. Alvi for allegedly falsifying claims, including manipulating photos to claim additional certificates.
At the time, the commission also refused registration of 200 Victorian energy efficient certificates, valued at $19,200, and required the business to have its quality assurance processes independently audited.
During the three-month suspension period, A.K. Alvi/Zerowatt was banned from creating certificates for any type of energy efficiency work under the VEU program.
However, the ESC alleges that A.K. Alvi continued advertising energy upgrades under a different trading name, CarbonGreens, falsely representing the business as an accredited business under the VEU program. A.K. Alvi also allegedly failed to remove the false representations despite multiple notifications and requests by the commission.
The commission suspended A.K. Alvi from the program for a second time in February 2026 to allow for further investigation and has now cancelled A.K. Alvi’s VEU accreditation and disqualified A.K. Alvi from reapplying for VEU accreditation for five years.
“Falsifying evidence to claim upgrades that never occurred is a serious breach of the VEU rules, as it undermines the integrity of the program,” said Gerard Brody, Essential Services Commission chairperson and commissioner.
“When the commission suspended A.K. Alvi for this conduct in August 2025, it had a chance to implement safeguards to ensure its failings didn’t happen again. Instead, they advertised VEU services under a different name while suspended.
“Victorians should be able to trust that businesses advertising energy upgrades under the VEU program are properly accredited and acting honestly. That’s why we have now banned A.K. Alvi from the program.”
According to the Australian Business Register’s ABN Lookup, A.K. Alvi Enterprises Pty Ltd is not only tied to the business name Zerowatt, but also the name GreenMate, which was registered in December 2025 and domiciled at the same address as Zerowatt, and not to be confused with GreenMate Agriculture, another Melbourne based business.
Neither the Australian Business Register (ABR) or the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) publicly publish specific personnel information for A.K. Alvi Enterprises Pty Ltd, but Abdullah Khorsheed Alvi lists himself on LinkedIn as the director at ZeroWatt.
