Knowledge/Accreditation and audits/Accredited person, scheme participant, or neither
Accredited person, scheme participant, or neither
The Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) scheme has three roles. The accredited person creates the certificates. The scheme participant does work on the job for them, and that's what most HVAC install businesses are. Then there's neither, and that's where the offences sit. Both offences (sections 15A and 15B) carry 60 penalty units for an individual.
- Accredited person
- Creates certificatesPart 3 Division 1 of the Act
- Scheme participant
- Section 3Amost install businesses
- s15A and s15B
- 60 / 240penalty units, individual / company
- At $209.10 a unit
- $12,546 / $50,184per offence, 2026-27
Which of the three are you?
All three come from the Victorian Energy Efficiency Target Act 2007 (the VEET Act), the law the scheme runs on.
| Role | What it means | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Accredited person | Accredited by the ESC (Essential Services Commission, the VEU regulator). The only one who can create a certificate | VEET Act Part 3 Division 1 |
| Scheme participant | Does any part of the job (a "regulated action") for or under an accredited person (AP). That includes an employee, a contractor, or a contractor's employee | Section 3A |
| Neither | Doing scheme work without being either of the above. This is where the offences are | Sections 15A and 15B |
That middle row is most HVAC install businesses. It's the role the Act was written to cover, and it comes with real duties, not just a label.
What counts as a regulated action?
More than the install. Section 3A covers the whole job, front to back.
- Lead generation
- Marketing
- Contracting
- The work itself
- Follow up and dispute resolution
So the person who door-knocked the lead is doing a regulated action, and so is the person who handles the complaint six months later. If you subcontract any of that, you've put somebody else inside the scheme on your job.
The two offences, and why the second one's nasty
Section 15A is doing scheme work (the Act calls it a "prescribed activity") when you're not accredited and not properly a participant either. That one's fairly obvious.
Section 15B is doing the work for someone who isn't accredited. Same penalties. This is the one people don't see coming. If the business you install for isn't properly accredited, you've committed the offence too.
What the penalties actually come to
Both sections carry 60 penalty units for an individual and 240 for a body corporate, which means a company. The Act sets penalties in units, not dollars, because the dollar value of a unit is reset every 1 July. The dollar figures below use the 2026-27 unit of $209.10.
Per offence, not per job lot. And because the unit is reset each 1 July, check the current value before you quote a dollar figure to anybody. Quote the penalty unit count, which doesn't move.
What I'd take from this
If you install under somebody else's accreditation, your legal position depends on their accreditation being sound. That's not a comfortable thing to take on trust, and it's one of the most overlooked risks in the whole scheme.
So know which role you're in, get it in writing, and know what happens if the AP above you falls over.
Working out whether to get accredited?
It's a real decision with real numbers on both sides, and most of the people offering advice make money whichever way you go.
Kevin has no stake in which way you go. Ask him.
Who this is for: small and medium HVAC contractors in Victoria. If you're a homeowner after a rebate or a repair, you need a licensed contractor, not us, and yours can point you the right way.
Related
- How to become a VEU accredited personEvery step, fee and deadline. $3,000 to apply, $1,000 a year to renew, a decision in 20 business days, and it only covers activities you're approved for.
- The real cost of accreditation isn't the feeYou pay for your own audit every two years, keep records for six years, do yearly CPD from 30 March, and answer for everyone working under you.
- Self-accredit, or work under an aggregator?Nobody has published a break-even point, so here's what self-accrediting costs, who wears the loss when a job fails, and what we'd want to know first.
- What your accredited person pays you, and why nobody publishes itNothing in the scheme's rules sets what an accredited person pays an installer, and we found no published rate cards. Here's what to ask for instead.
Review date: 1 January 2027. Figures in this area change without much notice and this page carries some that will go stale. Every number above is dated and sourced so you can check it yourself. If you find something out of date here, tell us and we will fix it.