A company that gave illegal advice costing vulnerable consumers thousands of dollars has been fined $75,000 by Armadale Magistrates Court in WA.

Pascoes Maintenance Group was convicted and fined on 17 July 2023 for instructing an unqualified employee to assess electrical installations as part of an “upselling” sales strategy, contravening the Electricity (Licensing) Regulations 1991. Additionally, Pascoes was also ordered to pay $8,203.75 in costs.

Magistrate Vivien Edwards says she could “safely assume the plumber was not the only employee engaged in upselling safety packages, switchboard upgrades and so on”, meaning the company would have made substantial profits from this illegal practice.

“It clearly made a significant amount of money from this way of doing business. The message needs to be sent to other businesses and corporations that such behaviour will not be tolerated because the lives of the public and employees are put at risk.”

During a trial at Armadale Magistrates Court in June, a plumber formerly employed by Pascoes Maintenance Group testified that the company provided him with a “switchboard upgrade manual” and a script to convince plumbing clients that they also needed electrical work. The plumber said Pascoes’ senior management discussed the sales approach for electrical work at meetings and his supervisor reassured him that the practice was okay.

Witness statements from three Pascoes clients who dealt with the plumber in April and August 2020 were accepted as evidence during the trial. After asking for a check of his rooftop solar hot water system, a 91-year-old widower was told his Maddington home’s switchboard was outdated and unsafe. The plumber quoted $10,880 for the plumbing and electrical work.

The plumber was also called out for a hot water issue in Forrestfield, where an eight-month-pregnant woman was caring for her toddler. A quoted of $4,500 for the plumbing and electrical work. Another woman living alone in Maddington was quoted $8,840, of which only $385 was for the hot water system connection she had requested.

The Perth company, part of the Pascoe’s Gas, Water and Electrical group, was prosecuted by Building and Energy under WA’s electrical licensing regulations because only a licensed electrician can carry out electrical work, with electrical work including assessing electrical installations.

Energy Safety WA director Saj Abdoolakhan says the significant fine against Pascoes should send a clear message about providing unqualified electrical advice, particularly for financial gain.

“Electrical assessments by an unlicensed person are illegal and dangerous, and in this case the aim was to scare consumers and exploit their trust to make money.

“When engaging a tradesperson, consumers should only take advice from a trusted and appropriately qualified person as well as seeking out more than one quote for the work even in an emergency. They should also ask to see their licence.”