Every year the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) publishes where it intends to point its attention. For rooftop solar in 2026-27, the list is short and specific, which is useful: it tells you which parts of your business to tighten first. The headline is that installers and retailers must give true and correct written statements for STC claims, and the CER will remove installers who do not.
This article translates the published priorities into jobs for your calendar. It is a reading of the CER’s statement as it stood at the time of writing. The official page is the authority, and priorities can change, so check it directly. For the history behind these priorities, see the CER integrity review.
The three themes
From the CER’s 2026-27 statement, three themes matter for small-scale solar:
- True and correct written statements. Installers and retailers must provide accurate written statements for STC claims. Those found to provide false statements can be removed.
- Systems that meet all requirements. Eligible systems must meet all local, state, territory and federal requirements, which includes electrical safety and wiring, and the CER expects high rates of compliance with technical standards. Installers must also meet the on-site attendance obligations.
- Agents checking documentation. Agents must verify all required compliance paperwork before they submit claims.
Each of these is both a legal requirement and a likely audit question.
What the regulator has done lately
Priorities are not just words. In the April to June 2026 quarter, the CER suspended 21 companies from the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme. That figure appears in the regulator’s own reporting and is a reminder that enforcement is live. The Solar Panel Validation Initiative also continues to check that STCs are not being claimed for unapproved panels.
Turning the priorities into a plan
| Priority | What the CER will look at | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| True written statements | Statements against evidence | Sign only for jobs you did or properly supervised; complete on the day |
| Meeting all requirements | Safety, wiring, standards, attendance | Keep compliance certificates and attendance records per job |
| Agent document checks | Whether paperwork was verified before lodging | Choose a trader that pre-checks; send complete claims |
Written statements
Make the statement a deliberate act, not a signature on a stack. The person whose name appears should be able to say what they did at the address. Put a rule in place: no pre-signed forms, no signing on behalf of a colleague, no completing statements days later from memory. Our answer on the installer written statement lists what it covers.
Requirements and attendance
Keep per-job evidence of electrical safety documentation, correct installation to the standards, and attendance. Photos with the installer’s work visible, time-stamped, are the practical record. Revisit the photo requirements guide, which also shows how photos tie to attendance.
Documentation checks
If you lodge claims through an agent or trader, they are expected to verify the paperwork. That helps you, but it does not shift your own responsibility. A claim that cannot be supported can still come back to you.
A worked example
Take an installer lodging 60 claims a quarter. Each is 45 STCs at about $38, $1,710. That is $102,600 of certificates a quarter. Suppose a CER sample finds two problems in ten jobs. If the CER extends its concern to the whole quarter, as a regulator may when the sample shows a pattern, the exposure is the full $102,600 plus any related action. A pre-lodgement check that catches the same two problems costs perhaps ten minutes a job. At 60 jobs that is 10 hours a quarter, an easy trade.
From the desk: Keep a one-page register of exceptions. Any time a job departs from the standard (an installer was late, a photo had to be retaken, a statement was corrected), note what happened and what you did. Regulators distrust perfect records and respect honest ones, and a register shows you manage problems rather than hide them.
Batteries and the newer rules
If you also install batteries, note that evidence rules for battery claims were tightened from 1 March 2026, including new photo and evidence requirements. The principles are the same: do the job correctly, and prove it. Our battery submission guide and Cheaper Home Batteries Program installer guide cover the specifics.
Questions to ask your trader
Compliance is shared with whoever lodges your claims, so ask:
- Do you review photos, forms and serials before lodging?
- What happens if a claim fails validation or audit later?
- Who bears the cost of a clawback, and under what terms?
- How fast will you tell me about a problem?
These are the same questions as in our trader checklist. A trader whose answers are vague is a compliance risk to you.
What the priorities do not say
Notice what is absent. There is no new scheme, no new certificate and no change to who may install. The priorities are about doing existing things properly. That is worth taking in. The CER is not asking installers to meet some new, higher bar. It is saying it will test, more often and with more consequence, the bar that already exists. The most dangerous assumption a crew can make is that because nothing has changed on paper, nothing will change in practice.
It is also worth watching the language. “True and correct” is a legal phrase. It does not mean “mostly accurate” or “accurate as far as I knew”. An installer who signs a statement without being sure of its contents is taking a risk the CER has said it will not tolerate. If something on a job was not as the form assumes, correct the form before it is signed, and keep a note of why.
Timing: the quarter-by-quarter view
Regulators publish enforcement updates quarterly, and that rhythm is useful. Use each quarter as a checkpoint: review the latest CER update, review your own rejection and query rates, and brief your crew on any change. A business that reads the regulator’s updates four times a year will rarely be surprised by a request from it.
If you are a one-person business
Smaller operators sometimes assume regulators look at the big names. In practice sampling is driven by data, and small installers are visible in it. The advantage of a small business is that it can change fast. One person can adopt a checklist tomorrow, and a business of one has no gap between the signer and the installer to explain. Use that advantage, and keep the records as though you expect to be asked, because eventually someone will.
What to do next
- Read the CER’s 2026-27 priorities page and save a dated copy
- Run the plan above across ten recent jobs
- Introduce the exceptions register and a no-pre-signed-forms rule
- Review your claims workflow against the compliance checklist and the STC trading page, and use the resources hub for templates