Knowledge/Accreditation and audits/The assignment of rights that makes the job valid
The assignment of rights that makes the job valid
Only an accredited person (AP) can create a Victorian Energy Upgrades certificate (section 16). Your customer almost never is one, so on every real job the customer signs their right to create the certificates over to the AP. That signed document is the assignment. Get it wrong and there's no valid certificate at the end of it.
- Section
- 16who may create a certificate
- Route every real job uses
- s16(1)(c)the customer signs it over
- What it must contain
- s16(3A)in force from 1 July 2025
- Once it's signed
- Customer can't claims16(4), stops double claiming
Who can create a certificate?
Section 16(1) lists three people who can create a certificate. The catch is right at the front of it. Whoever it is, it's only if the person is an accredited person.
| Route | Who | Used in practice? |
|---|---|---|
| s16(1)(a) | The energy consumer, meaning your customer | Almost never, because customers aren't accredited |
| s16(1)(b) | The seller, but only on sale-of-appliance activities | Only on those activities |
| s16(1)(c) | Someone the consumer (a) or the seller (b) has signed the right over to, by an assignment | Yes. This is the route every real job uses |
What makes an assignment valid?
- It's given by written notice, or in the way the regulations set out (s16(3)(a))
- It's done in the way, and on the form, set by the ESC (Essential Services Commission, the scheme's regulator) in its guidelines (s16(3)(b))
- It includes whatever details the ESC guidelines ask for (s16(3A))
Section 16(4) is the one worth understanding. Once the customer has validly signed the rights over, they can no longer create those certificates themselves. That's what stops the same job being claimed twice, and it's why this document is the first thing an auditor looks at.
Check
the
date
A template from before mid-2025 may not comply
The rule that an assignment must include the details set in the ESC guidelines (s16(3A)) was added by Act No. 15/2025 s37(2) and came into force on 1 July 2025.
So if your assignment template is older than mid-2025, it was written to the old rules. Assume it doesn't comply until somebody checks it.
We've deliberately not copied out or described the form here. We couldn't get hold of the ESC guidelines that say what it has to look like and contain, and a half-remembered form would be worse than none. Get the current one from your AP and check when it was last updated.
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
- On a rental job, the landlord signs the assignmentThe tenant holds the energy account, but section 16(2) treats the landlord as the consumer so they can sign. Likely to come up far more often from 2027.
- No certificate without these two declarationsRegulation 17 needs a declaration from your customer and one from the accredited person. Plus the rule against bringing in an old unit just to rip it out.
- What counts as decommissioned, and the disposal proof to keepThe old unit has to be made unusable, the refrigerant handled under Commonwealth law and the waste taken off site. Plus the proof worth keeping on file.
- Six years of records, and the other clocks people mix upWhat you have to keep if you're accredited, and for how long. Why every certificate carries your number, and the deadlines that catch people out.
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.