Households lose millions as fraudsters drain Victoria's green energy scheme
Nearly 20 businesses have been removed from Victoria's green energy scheme. This leaves households owed millions in lost deposits and no warranties.
Victoria's Energy Upgrades program helps households buy cheaper air conditioners, heat pumps and other energy products. The program has been damaged by fraudsters.
Fraudsters use fake AI photos. Dodgy installers claim to have installed systems when they never did.
They pocket credits worth $83 each. Nearly 20 businesses have been suspended or kicked out over two years.
The damage gets worse when companies collapse. Cyanergy shut down in March.
It owed $7 million to households. Most of these households had paid deposits they never got back.
Two linked companies also went bankrupt in the same period. They left customers with broken products and no warranty cover.
The regulator has stepped up enforcement. It now uses technology checks and does thousands of site inspections.
- $572 million
- Program value
- $7 million
- Cyanergy debt
- $83 each
- Certificate value
- 2.4 million and 180,000
- Households and businesses helped
Why it mattersVictorians shopping for affordable energy upgrades need to know which installers are legitimate. They should understand the risk of losing deposits to fraud or company collapse.
AustraliaVictorian households using the green energy scheme risk losing deposits to fraudulent installers or going unpaid when companies go bankrupt without refunding them.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 2 h ago
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