There is a legal deadline for creating VEECs, and there is a practical one. The legal one is generous. The practical one is much shorter.
The rule
Under the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) scheme, as the Essential Services Commission describes it, VEECs must be created no later than six months after the end of the year in which the activity was completed. So a job finished in March 2026 has until the middle of the following year, and one finished in November 2026 has until six months after 31 December 2026.
The rule sits in the Victorian Energy Efficiency Target guidelines and the accredited person obligations, which are updated several times a year. Always read the current version, because a wrong deadline assumption can cost you real certificates.
Who creates the certificates
Only an accredited person for the relevant activity can create VEECs, usually working through the VEU Registry. Since 3 June 2025, accredited persons must register all installers, assessors and lighting designers as scheme participants before creating VEECs for work they did. Miss that step and certificates can be blocked. See who the accredited providers are and VEECs for accredited persons.
Why the practical deadline is shorter
You will be paid when certificates are created and sold, not when the job is finished. If you wait until month eleven, you carry the cost of the job for a year, and you may sell at a different price. The scheme’s price history, covered in spot vs forward prices, shows swings that can cost or gain thousands across a book.
Evidence also decays. Customer acknowledgements get misplaced, serials are forgotten and the installer who did the job leaves. The best time to create is within days of completion.
What this means for installers
- Treat the legal deadline as a backstop, not a plan.
- Confirm the installer is registered before the job, not before creation.
- Check that the activity guide in force on the job date was followed.
- Agree your trader’s settlement time before you create, because a fast creation process only helps if payment is fast too; see how long VEEC payment takes.
A fast, complete claim is also one that clears cleanly. Our desk pre-checks claims before lodgement, which catches most of the errors that cause delay; see how it works.
Related
The mechanics of selling VEECs are on the VEEC trading page, and what VEECs are and how they work is a useful primer. If you do STC jobs as well, compare the STC submission process.