Home battery installer caught out, convicted and fined for falsifying system safety checks

A licensed electrical inspector has been fined by Victoria’s energy safety regulator after admitting to certifying home battery system installations as safe without inspecting them.

Energy Safe Victoria announced on Tuesday that Roger Robbins had pleaded guilty to four charges under the state’s Electricity Safety Act 1998 for giving false information to Energy Safe Victoria within a Certificate of Electrical Safety (COES).

According to Energy Safe Victoria, the offences relate to certificates for batteries installed at four separate properties in May and September last year that falsely stated he had inspected, tested, and certified the electrical work.

Energy Safe opened an investigation after residents separately reported concerns that their home battery systems had been certified without being inspected.

Residents became suspicious after being informed inspections had taken place and COES had been issued, even though no inspector had attended their properties – with some of the battery systems being installed in locked areas of homes accessible only by the residents.

All electrical work carried out in Victoria must be accompanied by the issuance of a COES to customers, which records their work and verifies that it has passed all required tests and complies with energy safety legislation.

Higher-risk or prescribed electrical work also requires inspection by someone with a Certificate of Inspection, which confirms a licensed electrical inspector attended the site, assessed the installation, and certified it as safe and compliant before it was connected to the power supply.

Robbins was fined $5,000 with conviction during sentencing at Ringwood Magistrates’ Court, though the fine would have been $15,000 if not for the fact that Robbins had entered an early guilty plea, had no prior offences, and that he had since retired.

During sentencing, Magistrate Halse verbally reprimanded Robbins, highlighting his “significant position of trust and responsibility as a licensed electrical inspector”, adding that it was only through good fortune that his failure to inspect the installations had not resulted in serious injury or death.

Energy Safe CEO Leanne Hughson doubled down on Tuesday, saying that “Homeowners rely on independent inspections and electrical safety certificates to provide assurance that electrical work has been properly checked and is safe.

“Providing false information to Energy Safe undermines confidence in that system and compromises an important safeguard designed to protect Victorian households. We will continue to take enforcement action where those obligations are not met.”

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