Well Being Green, a business that acted as a type of intermediary for solar installers to trade renewable energy certificates, has collapsed into administration, owing more than $7 million to about 200 creditors.
The collapse comes as the Australian solar power industry continues to suffer, especially in New South Wales where a recent report from the Australian Solar Energy Society showed more businesses are thinking about cutting staff.
Administrator Pino Fiorentino told SmartCompany this morning that Well Being Green is preparing a report which will show directors moved over one million dollars out of the company in recent weeks.
“The directors have been very cooperative, and have given me all these bank statements. But it’s taken me awhile to work this all out, there was no money left in the bank.”
He says the directors claim that withdrawals were used to pay creditors.
Well Being Green was contacted this morning, but the company’s phone lines appeared to be disconnected.
Fiorentino says he is confident that many creditors will receive their money back, but also said he is frustrated by having to go through the company’s records and financial history – none of which were easy to find.
“According to the company records, the directors put a fair amount of money into the company itself, and are also creditors themselves. This entire thing is a bit of a process.”
However, the collapse of the company means some solar panel installers are in a rut.
Solar panels and systems generate RECs. Solar installers then pay owners for the value of each REC, often working through an intermediate clearing house, such as Well Being Green.
However, Allsafe Energy Efficient Products chief Brian Carroll has told The Australian that he is owed $1.2 million, and that some of his stores may need to close as a result of the Well Being Green collapse.
A report on Well Being Green from Fiorentino is due next week.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
