Accreditation is the licence to your STC income. Knowing how it is lost is the best way to keep it.
How accreditation is lost
SAA can suspend or cancel for several reasons:
- Demerit points. Defects found in audits or complaints carry points. Cross a threshold and a suspension follows. Reported rules set a first suspension at about three months, with longer periods for repeat offences within five years.
- Falsified or misleading evidence. Fake attendance photos, reused images or false declarations are treated as serious. The Clean Energy Regulator has warned installers over this.
- Failing to respond. Ignoring a notice or request can bring a no-response suspension, and a long one can lead to cancellation.
- Lapsed requirements. Insurance, training, or details out of date.
- Fit and proper concerns. Conduct elsewhere in the industry, such as breaches of law.
The Clean Energy Council code of conduct and SAA conditions both apply to behaviour, and breaches of either can feed into action. The practical side of this is on the code of conduct and complaints page.
Getting reinstated
- Read the decision. It states the grounds, the period and any conditions.
- Serve the period. Do not carry out accredited work in the meantime, and do not sign off jobs.
- Fix the cause. Retraining, process changes, rectifying defective installations.
- Apply. Follow SAA’s reinstatement or re-application steps, with the evidence they ask for.
- Consider a review. If you believe the decision was wrong, SAA has a review process, and there is an external route for some decisions. Take advice.
Effect on certificates
Work done while suspended, or work found non-compliant, can make STCs invalid and trigger repayment. See STC clawback and CER take back STCs.
What this means for installers
Treat points as a budget. Review every audit finding for the pattern behind it. If you are a business with several installers, track accreditation expiry dates centrally, because lapses are an avoidable cause of lost income.
For wider compliance reading, see how STC audits work, the CER’s 2026 priorities and the pillar on STC trading. The Partner Program page explains how the desk supports partners on compliance.
Protecting income during a suspension
A suspension stops your own accredited work but not necessarily your business. Some firms keep other accredited installers busy and move the suspended person into design, sales or training roles that do not need accreditation. Do not allow the suspended person to sign or attend jobs as the accredited installer. Doing so is a new breach, and it endangers every certificate on those jobs.