Knowledge/Rebates and VEU
Rebates and the VEU, from your side of it
What the scheme pays, what it now costs your customer, and where the risk actually sits when a claim fails.
Everything in this section
- The VEU co-payment went up to $3,000 on 30 September 2026The minimum VEU co-payment on a ducted job went from $1,000 to $3,000 inc GST on 30 September 2026. Not 31 July. Here's what it does to your quoting.
- What's a VEEC actually worth, and why isn't it climbing?A VEEC was $85.80 on 22 September 2026, inside a 12 month range of $74.50 to $93.50. Here's what sets the price, and why $100 is the practical ceiling.
- Geo-tagged photos, and the app that quietly deletes themSince 23 April 2026, VEU heating, cooling and hot water jobs need geo-tagged photos. Messaging apps strip the location, and your audit evidence with it.
- When a VEU claim fails, who actually carries it?The accredited provider and the installer don't carry the same risk when a VEU claim fails. The regulator's own enforcement cases show how that plays out.
- Can you claim STCs and VEECs on the same job?On heat pump hot water you can claim both certificates, and that's deliberate. On residential solar or a battery, claiming both is an offence.
- How a VEEC is created, registered and actually soldOne certificate is one tonne of CO2 equivalent saved. The path from your install to a retailer handing it in, and why there's only a short list of buyers.
- The 2026 Act: what changes, and what isn't law yetNine big changes are coming, including a new name for VEECs. Only a handful started on 9 September 2026. The rest wait until the government switches them on.
- The 2025 Act that extended the scheme out to 2045The scheme isn't ending. Certificates can be created for jobs done before 1 January 2046, and four changes from 2025 are still catching contractors out.
- The 20 kW cap on residential multi-split, word for wordFrom 30 September 2026 a residential multi-split can only count 20 kW of capacity input. You can install bigger. You just don't earn any more for it.
- There's no 77-VEEC cap. We checked all 22 mentions.People are quoting a certificate cap that isn't in the VEU Specifications at all. We checked all 22 mentions of the number across all 165 pages.
- Quoting across a VEU rule change without losing the claimThe co-payment rule that counts is the one in force when the certificate's created, not when you quoted. A job that slips into October takes the new figure.
Rather just ask someone?
Kevin has been in this industry for 30 years. If the answer isn't here, or you want it applied to a job you're quoting, have a chat.