Knowledge/Accreditation and audits/No certificate without these two declarations
No certificate without these two declarations
If the job involves decommissioning an old unit, no certificate can be created unless the Essential Services Commission (ESC), the Victorian Energy Upgrades regulator, gets two declarations. One from the energy consumer, meaning your customer. One from whoever is creating the certificate. Miss either and there's no certificate, no matter how good the install was.
- Regulation
- 17(1)both declarations required
- Declaration 1
- Your customerthe energy consumer
- Declaration 2
- The accredited personwhoever creates the certificate
- No planted old units
- reg 17(2)(a)see below
Is one declaration enough?
No. Regulation 17(1) is a hard stop. If the job involves decommissioning, a certificate cannot be created until the ESC has both.
And it's not two copies of the same form. Two different people each make a declaration, and the ESC needs both. The ESC can also add its own requirements (reg 36(2)), so check what it currently asks for, not just what the regulation says.
What stops someone planting an old unit?
You can't bring in an old unit just so there's something to rip out. What comes out has to be what was genuinely there.
Regulation 17(2)(a) makes the declaration say so. It has to state that the decommissioned product was not installed for the purpose of decommissioning it as part of the prescribed activity.
That isn't a theoretical worry. One of the March 2026 enforcement matters involved an accredited person bringing water heater units to premises that had no existing unit. That's exactly what this clause is there to catch. Our page on the two March 2026 cases has the detail.
Why does the wording matter?
A decommissioning declaration is a statement from your customer and a statement from whoever creates the certificate. If the facts in it are wrong, somebody has told a regulator something untrue.
It's also one of the least covered parts of the scheme. When we looked, we found just one other page online about decommissioning, written for homeowners and quoting no source. So don't lean on what a search turns up.
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
- 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.
- The fact sheet and sizing advice you owe before they signThree things you must do before the customer agrees, or no certificate can be created. Plus the state's published sizing bands by floor area.
- The register timing trap that kills finished jobsA certificate fails if the product isn't on the register when the certificate is created, not when you installed it. And the calculator isn't the check.
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.