Hundreds of solar installation businesses have been left almost $90 million out of pocket.Rooftop solar is booming in Australia, but in the shadows of this billion-dollar industry are operators who appear to be taking advantage of a system where they can "print money" with little oversight.
In their first report to creditors, the liquidators said "initial investigations have revealed that the company's business and assets may have been transferred to a related party". The ABC has traced the shell companies and directors of Emerging Energy and found related companies continue to operate and trade in environmental markets in the wake of the liquidation.The reason companies like Emerging Energy exist is Australia's green energy target, which aims to increase the amount of renewable energy in the system.
An estimated 33.6 million STCs are set to be created in 2024, according to the Clean Energy Regulator.Jeff Bye, the owner and director of trading company Demand Manager, is owed about $4 million by Emerging Energy."The value of the market is always increasing, the volume of certificates that are being created and surrendered by liable parties generally increases each year.
In an email chain between Jeff Bye and Greenbot, its director was not willing to share any financial details of the company."We inquired as to the reasons and sought assurance that the companies involved had the financial wherewithal," he says. "We immediately took action and collaborated closely with the CER to identify and rectify the issue. We are pleased to inform you that the CER has committed to clearing the backlog of pending jobs, and we anticipate a return to normal processing times in the coming days and weeks."
"Over the last 20 years of these schemes being in existence, there's been a continual array of dodgy installers and cowboys that have come in at the installer level," he says. "We called them , we rang them, we warned them, we did everything, to which their only comment was get legal advice. It's not our problem," he says.
"Ultimately, this is about the fiduciary responsibility of companies to manage other people's money," he says. He also says there needs to be more transparency after certificates are created about who has bought and sold them, so that individual installers can see what's happened with their job.