Statement on re-commencement of pending refrigerated cabinet certificate assessments

7 July 2022

The Essential Services Commission acknowledges the queries and concerns that many accredited persons and scheme participants are raising in response to the recent announcements about the refrigerated cabinets activity under the Victorian Energy Upgrades program.

We consider that the concerning behaviour that has come to light in recent weeks does not reflect the approach of the majority of businesses accredited under the program who are doing the right thing – but this is a troubling development in the program and we are investigating this matter as a priority.

As you will be aware on 24 June 2002, we issued a statement that we would not be progressing the registration of Victorian energy efficiency certificates for multiple installations of refrigerated cabinets while we investigate this behaviour as an urgent priority.

We recognise this has been a challenging period for accredited persons and scheme participants who have been contributing to the success of the program in good faith. We thank these businesses for their efforts, and we are committed to working with you to finalise the registration of eligible certificates for compliant refrigerated cabinet installations as efficiently as possible.

We have now re-commenced the assessment of pending certificates, focussing initially on those claims for a refrigerated cabinet activity that have a lower per premise certificate total. These will be followed by our assessment of the certificates for the remaining multiple refrigerated cabinet activities with higher certificate claims. We envisage the assessment of the certificates for some accredited persons falling into the first category will be finalised later this week. 

We are carefully assessing the pending refrigerated cabinet certificate claims to review whether they comply with the program rules, including the Victorian Energy Efficiency Target Act and Regulations and the commission’s guidance. This will involve our usual process to check claims and may include the commission requesting further information from accredited persons through the Request For Information process. We recommend that accredited persons have all required information ready for us to collect when we contact you so we can assess your certificates as efficiently as possible.

The commission has zero tolerance for fraudulent, misleading or unsafe behaviour by businesses accredited under the program. We are continuing to investigate refrigerated cabinet installations and will take strong enforcement action where we find breaches of the program rules. We appreciate industry support on this investigation and welcome any further information you may have on this matter.

If you have any queries, please contact us.