Knowledge/Licences and standards/What does a restricted electrical licence actually cover?
What does a restricted electrical licence actually cover?
Less than most of the trade thinks, with one surprise. A restricted licence covers electrical work that comes with your own trade (incidental to your primary trade), not general electrical work. But you can issue a Certificate of Electrical Safety for that work, and you have to. Plenty of contractors think they can't.
- Scope
- Your own trade's workincidental to your primary trade
- Certificate of Electrical Safety
- You can and mustfor the work you do
- General electrical work
- Nothat needs a full licence
- Regulator
- Energy Safe Victoria
Widely believed and wrong
"Only a registered electrical contractor can issue a certificate"
That's wrong, and people get it wrong both ways. A restricted electrical worker can issue a Certificate of Electrical Safety for the electrical work they do, and has to.
Both mistakes cost you. If you think you can't certify, you're leaving work uncertified when the law says you must certify it. If you think the restriction doesn't really apply to you, you're certifying work outside your scope.
So what's actually restricted about it?
The limit is on what work you can do, not on the paperwork. The licence covers electrical work that comes with your own trade, which is what "incidental to your primary trade" means. For an air con installer, that's the electrical work tied to the unit itself. It doesn't make you an electrician for the rest of the building.
Sort out where your scope ends before the job, not halfway through it. Three questions do most of the work. Where's the power coming from? Who's touching the switchboard? Is there already a circuit there?
The Victorian bit most people miss
In Victoria, installing a split system is plumbing work. You have to be registered with the Building and Plumbing Commission (formerly the VBA) to do it. And before you can get the refrigerated air conditioning class, you need a restricted electrical licence.
So they're not two options sitting side by side. One's a condition of the other. If you think your restricted electrical licence is all you need, go and check your plumbing registration.
Not certain what your licence covers?
This is one contractors often get wrong, and getting it wrong can cost you more than a fine. It can put your licence at risk.
Kevin won't give you a legal opinion, but he'll tell you which questions to ask and who to ask them of.
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
- Refrigerant licence classes, and the one that doesn't existThere's no RAC02 licence. There's RAC01 (full) and RSS03 (restricted). RSS03 covers less than installers think, with no refrigerant service work at all.
- Who regulates HVAC work in Victoria now?The Victorian Building Authority is gone. It became the Building and Plumbing Commission on 1 July 2025, and split system installs are plumbing work.
- Victoria's rental minimum standards, date by dateEvery date from March 2027 to July 2030 and what triggers each one. Plus one to tell every landlord: existing evaporative already complies.
Review date: 1 March 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.