Clean Energy Regulator

The truth is they published a report this week saying that some allegations have been made.

What the Clean Energy Regulator pointed out was that they...

Looking at those allegations has resulted in the need for 17 further investigations, certainly with 17 problems, 17 investigations.

There's been 530,000 batteries installed under this program and 17 that they've decided we need to investigate.

It comes as more than 530,000 batteries have been installed under the scheme since July last year at an estimated cost to taxpayers of more than $7.2 billion.

The allegations are currently untested and the Clean Energy Regulator says they're being investigated.

The government says the scheme has strict safety and accreditation requirements.

Well, not according to the Federal Watchdog.

I'm just saying right.

That's interesting.

Yeah, and look, SEA, which is our sole association, took the clean energy regulator on for two years, and we got a bit of a stall in the cancellation of the accreditation for two years, but at the end of June last year, we said, no, that's it, and we all lost our accreditation on the same day.

And, look, it's just been a disaster.

Consumers were putting massive pressure on the installers to get them installed and the installers were feeling under huge pressure.

Untested tip-offs sent to the Clean Energy Regulator and obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information raised questions about whether the multi-billion dollar scheme is being rorted.

One solar installer has been accused of staging jobs and adding extra batteries to make fraudulent rebate claims, while another company was accused of unpacking battery boxes and stacking them for compliance photos without installing them.

I was blown away at the brazenness of that.

I'm sure that happens.

And that's really worrying because I really worry about the safety and performance of those systems.

Stephanie Tonkin, CEO of the Consumer Action Law Centre, is concerned the Clean Energy Regulator has inspected only 3,600 systems out of 530,000.

If businesses who are doing the wrong thing know that they're not going to be caught out, then they're more likely to continue doing the wrong thing.

Solavix does an audit.

Then STCs, CER could do an audit as well.

But some of the stories, like as well as being completely non-compliant installations, it was the stories that sort of, yeah.

There was another one where panels were like three-quarters of the way over a ridge.

But it was still the A-grade electrician that was signing off on as the design as well because that was the only way that could happen.

That's right.

Angus Taylor did a big review and that sort of took into account what the CER was doing and what CEC was doing at the time as well.

The legislation always allowed for the CER to get rid of bad designers and bad sales retailers, solid retailers.

Under Anthony Albanese, the Australian Human Rights Commission, they've grown by 67 staff.

The Clean Energy Regulator has added 116 workers.

The National Indigenous Australians Agency, that's grown by 220 employees.

Treasury got an extra 291.

I'm a big believer Biochar will improve the soil organic content.

But under the project I'm doing, registered under the Australian Clean Energy Regulator, that Biochar is not a suitable source of fertiliser.

So at the moment is my correction that it's not part of the input.

Yeah, so under registered ACCU scheme project, unless you're generating it on the CEA, the carbon estimation area in which you've got your project registered, then you can't apply.