Knowledge/Accreditation and audits/Six years of records, and the other clocks people mix up
Six years of records, and the other clocks people mix up
If you're an accredited person (AP), you have to keep records of everything you do under the scheme. Keep them for six years from when you made them or when the transaction was completed, whichever is later. Certificates also expire six years from the activity date. Those are two different clocks, and people mix them up.
- Keep records
- 6 yearsfrom made or completed, whichever is later, s72(5)
- Certificates expire
- 6 yearsfrom the activity date
- Creation deadline
- 6 monthsafter the end of the year, s17(2)
- Retailer surrender
- 30 Aprileach year
Which clock is which?
| Clock | Length | Runs from |
|---|---|---|
| Keeping records, s72(5) | 6 years | when the records were made, or when the transaction was completed, whichever is later |
| Certificate life | 6 years | the activity date |
| Deadline to create the certificate, s17(2) | 6 months | the end of the year in which the emissions reduction happened |
| Retailer surrender | Annual | 30 April |
Record keeping is the sneaky one. The six years runs from whichever is later, so on a long-running job you could be keeping records well past six years from the install.
What do you have to keep?
Section 72 says you must keep records that show and explain everything you did under the Act. That includes any document needed to check the details of every certificate you created, plus anything else the Essential Services Commission (ESC) asks for in its guidelines.
That last part is open ended. The law sets a broad duty and the detail sits in ESC guidelines that can change. If you set up your record keeping once and never check it again, it can drift out of line without you noticing.
Every certificate carries your number
Section 21(2) sets out what's on a certificate. A unique ID, the customer's name, the activity date, the activity details, the abatement date and the creation date.
Here's the bit worth thinking about. The ID code starts with the accredited person's registration number. So every certificate can always be traced back to the AP who created it.
There's no such thing as a certificate that quietly isn't yours. If you created it, your number is at the front of it for its whole six-year life.
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
- 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.
- What actually triggers an audit, and who pays for itThree different things get called an audit. One is routine and scheduled, one needs reasonable grounds, and one happens to every certificate you create.
- Everything the regulator can do to you, from a warning upFrom a warning up to an order to hand back certificates at 600 penalty units. Every step, its section number, and what it comes to in dollars.
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.