We have taken compliance action in the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) against registered agent, Formbay Trading Pty Ltd and solar retailer, RACV Solar Pty Ltd.

On Thursday 19 December 2024, the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) issued a Notice of Intent to suspend the registration of NetZero Environmental Group Pty Ltd (NetZero) from the Renewable Energy Target scheme under section 30A of the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000. 

A Notice of Intent (NOI) is a document that outlines a proposed decision to be made by the CER. NOIs are based on the information available to the us at the time of issuing the NOI. 

On Thursday 5 December 2024, the Clean Energy Regulator executed a monitoring warrant on the Melbourne offices of a business involved in solar panel retail, installation, and renewable energy certificate creation.

The purpose of the warrant was to assess the company’s compliance with the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000.

An investigation by the Clean Energy Regulator has led to a total of 330 charges being laid against a solar retailer and 2 individuals in Western Australia. The offences relate to the provision of:

• false and misleading information contrary to section 145.5(1) of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth)
• false statutory declarations contrary to section 11 of the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 (Cth). 

These offences carry a maximum penalty of up to 7 years imprisonment and 4 years’ imprisonment respectively.

We have updated the key risk areas for auditors guideline, which outlines what risks it expects greenhouse and energy auditors to focus on when conducting audits under our schemes.

On 7 November 2024, the Clean Energy Regulator permanently suspended the registration of Universal Exim Pty Ltd under section 30A of the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000. Universal Exim can no longer create renewable energy certificates.

Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme participants and Australian National Registry of Emissions Units (ANREU) account holders need to provide us with their identity documents multiple times to register new projects or open additional accounts.

We are proposing to amend the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Rule 2015 and the Australian National Registry of Emissions Units Regulations 2011, so that we no longer need to request identity documents again when we have already received them for another activity.

The compliance update for July to September 2024 is now available.

We take compliance action to ensure the integrity of our schemes. The update sets out our expectations of compliance by scheme participants and highlights the areas of focus for compliance action.

It features updates on our key compliance activities for the quarter: