Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator (CER) is cracking down on “false statements and incomplete work”, urging rooftop solar and battery retailers and installers, as well as carbon credit traders, to comply with the law.
The CER released its latest Quarterly Compliance Update which highlights a range of small announcements underpinning its efforts to protect the integrity of Australia’s clean energy schemes.
These include the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme, National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Scheme, the Safeguard Mechanism, and Renewable Energy Target (RET).
The CER says it has suspended 21 companies from the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) for failing to meet fit and proper person requirements.
“Fit and proper person requirements are an ongoing obligation,” the CER said. “Participants must demonstrate compliance with the law and that they have the integrity, capability and competence to effectively fulfil their role as a provider of our schemes.”
Full details of the 21 companies were not published, with the CER only highlighting Asun Solar for “failing to meet these obligations” and another unnamed company “for providing false or misleading statements about solar systems they declared complete and capable of generating electricity when they in fact weren’t.”
“False statements and incomplete work will not be tolerated,” said Carl Binning, CER acting chair, who said that the CER was aiming to send a clear message to solar retailers and installers.
In order to more efficiently ensure such compliance, the CER deployed an AI-assisted image analysis tool during the second quarter to help CER officers quickly identify installations where required labels may be missing from submitted images and detect potential issues with image metadata.
“We’re warning installers that we will fail their applications and send them back to site if things aren’t done properly the first time,” said Binning.
The CER has also continued to uplift audit quality across the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme, as well as monitor companies which had previously been placed under enforceable undertaking.
The Emissions and Energy Reporting System (EERS) is also now open for the 2025–26 reporting period, with reports to be submitted in EERS by the statutory deadline of 31 October.
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