“Reputations at stake:” Regulator punishes companies for energy upgrade scheme breaches

The Victorian government’s Essential Services Commission has punished two businesses for allegedly breaching the rules of the Victorian Energy Upgrades scheme.

The Essential Services Commission, Victoria’s independent economic regulator, announced late last week that it had “taken action” against two businesses previously accredited under the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program.

Designed to help Victorians cut their energy bills, the VEU incentivises households and businesses to invest in energy efficient upgrades by providing access to discounted energy efficient products and services.

The Commission is continually monitoring the VEU program, resulting in a number of companies being punished or suspended during 2025, with two more companies added to that list last week.

Target Green Pty Ltd, which is headquartered in the Melbourne suburb of Truganina and claims to be “Victoria’s #1 energy efficiency services provider under VEU program” has been suspended from the VEU program for three months for “allegedly making false claims and breaching multiple consumer protections.”

According to the Commission, Target Green and contractors working on its behalf made false claims about completing weather upgrades that did not occur, claiming more upgrades than were performed, and engaging in banned sales and marketing activity including doorknocking and high-pressure sales tactics.

In addition to a three-month suspension, the Commission ordered Target Green to surrender 64 allegedly non-compliant certificates, valued at $5,146, and complete a compliance audit to assess their compliance with the VEU rules.

The action against Target Green is the fourth enforcement action uncovered by the commission’s fraud taskforce which is focused on stamping out fraudulent activity in high-volume, low-cost energy efficient upgrades.

The second company to be punished by the Commission is Cyanergy Pty Ltd, another company headquartered in Truganina, which provides operates in both Victoria and New South Wales.

Cyanergy’s VEU accreditation has been placed under a six-week restriction for allegedly claiming Victorian energy efficiency certificates for four non-compliant heat pump water upgrades.

The Commission charged that contractors working on behalf of Cyanergy completed the non-compliant installations which resulted in wiring issues that posed potential safety risks to consumers. When the Commission alerted Cyanergy about the safety risk, the company immediately rectified the installations.

Cyanergy will be unable to undertake heat pump water heater upgrades for six weeks and has been ordered to surrender 36 certificates which are allegedly non-compliant, valued at $2,895.

“Tackling practices that undermine program integrity and substandard installations are priorities for the commission, which we have seen in both of these cases,” said Gerard Brody, Essential Services Commission chairperson and commissioner.

“We expect businesses to have safeguards in place to ensure anyone working on their behalf adheres to rules, and standards that protect consumers. If they don’t, their accreditation, reputation and income are at stake.

“The fraud taskforce was set up to use analysis and intelligence to focus on areas we consider high-risk. When concerns arise, the taskforce can mobilise quickly to investigate and act, as we have done here.”