Knowledge/Rebates and VEU/The 2025 Act that extended the scheme out to 2045
The 2025 Act that extended the scheme out to 2045
The Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) scheme isn't ending. The 2025 Act extended it so certificates can be created for jobs done before 1 January 2046, and set targets out to 2045. Four of its other changes are already in force, including liability for wrong information on a certificate even if you didn't know it was wrong.
- Act
- No. 15/2025signed off 20 May 2025
- Scheme runs to
- 1 Jan 2046for jobs done before then
- Targets set out to
- 2045s30(h) to (k)
- The sharp one
- s20(8)liable even if you didn't know
Is the scheme ending?
No. As the law stands, certificates can be created for jobs done before 1 January 2046. The 2025 Act did that by changing s17(1), and it added s30(h) to (k), which set targets out to 2045.
But be careful how you say it. That's the law as at September 2026, and the 2025 Act itself proves an end date in law can move. Moving one is exactly what it did.
The real signal is when the next targets get set
- Targets for 2028 to 2030 have to be set by 31 August 2027 (s30(h))
- Targets for 2031 to 2035 by 31 May 2030 (s30(i))
That August 2027 deadline is the one to put in your diary. Those targets set how many certificates the market needs, and that drives what a certificate's worth. If you want to know what VEECs (Victorian energy efficiency certificates) will be worth in 2028, that's the document to wait for.
Which 2025 changes are already in force?
All four of these started on 1 July 2025.
| Section | What it did | From |
|---|---|---|
| s14FA | A training and competency duty on scheme participants, which is most install businesses | 1 July 2025 |
| s20(8) | Civil liability for wrong information, even if you didn't know it was wrong | 1 July 2025 |
| s40AB | The Essential Services Commission (ESC) can order you to fix a problem (improvement notices) | 1 July 2025 |
| s40AC | The ESC can order you to stop doing something (prohibition notices) | 1 July 2025 |
Section 20(8) is the one to think hard about. If a certificate you create has wrong information in it, you can be liable even if you didn't know it was wrong. Much of s20 is about people who knew what they were doing. This part catches you for simply getting it wrong.
The same Act added s16(3A). It says the assignment form, where the customer signs their right to create certificates over to the accredited person, has to include whatever the ESC guidelines specify. That started on 1 July 2025, so an assignment template older than mid-2025 may not comply.
Don't mix these up
Don't confuse the 2025 Act with the 2026 one
There are three different sets of rules in play, and people blend them into one lot of "new rules". They're not the same thing, and they start at different times.
The 2025 Act (No. 15/2025) is mostly in force. It extended the scheme and brought in s14FA, s20(8), s40AB and s40AC. The 2026 Act (No. 37/2026) is mostly not in force yet. It's the one that renames certificates and moves the activity rules out of the regulations into orders made by the Minister (Ministerial Orders). And the VEU Specifications are a separate document again, the rulebook for each activity. They're currently version 25.0, and that's where the co-payments and the 20 kW cap live.
If someone tells you "the rules changed in 2025", ask which one they mean. It decides whether the thing they're describing applies to you.
Not sure where your claims stand?
The scheme changes faster than anybody sends you a letter about it, and the cost of getting a claim wrong lands on you rather than on the person who told you.
Kevin will go through what you're doing now and tell you where the exposure is.
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 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.
- 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.
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.