Fake photos, fraudulent claims: Regulator suspends another company from energy upgrades scheme

Victoria’s Essential Services Commission has suspended another company from participating in the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program after it was allegedly caught out submitting doctored photos and falsified customer details.

The Essential Services Commission (ESC) announced on Tuesday that it had suspended the VEU accreditation of Royal One Pty Ltd, a Coburg North based energy upgrades provider which has been operating since 2016.

The VEU program helps Victorians reduce their energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions by providing access to discounted energy efficient product and services.

Royal One billed itself as an “Accredited Provider” of the VEU subsidy, with a focus on energy efficient air conditioning, heat pumps, and solar and battery storage systems to cut customer bills.

According to the ESC, Royal One allegedly submitted doctored photos and falsified customer details to fraudulently claim certificates for energy efficiency projects.

The ESC’s Fraud Taskforce said it reviewed photos submitted by Royal One as evidence of upgrades and found evidence that some of them had been digitally altered – inconsistencies that the Taskforce confirmed with third-party data matching.

Phone audits of Royal One’s listed consumers also provided further evidence of this attempted fraud.

Further, Royal One is no longer accredited under the VEU program as its VEU accreditation expired shortly after the suspension and the company has not applied to renew its accreditation.

“The Fraud Taskforce continues its important work stamping out fraudulent activity to support VEU program integrity,” said Gerard Brody, chairperson and commissioner of the ESC.

“The taskforce uses data, tip-offs, and other intelligence to identify areas of unusual activity and in this case, uncovered what we allege to be deliberate and fraudulent conduct from Royal One.

“Immediately suspending Royal One directly affected their ability to generate income from the VEU program. The message is clear – deliberately breaking the rules puts your business at risk.”

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