Green energy trader

Written and checked by the Energy Merchants desk · Reviewed 3 October 2026

A green energy trader is a business that buys certificates from the people who create them and sells them to those who need them. In Australia that usually means STCs, VEECs and LGCs. The creators are installers and generators. The buyers are liable entities, mostly electricity retailers, as well as some voluntary buyers. See liable entity.

“Trader” is a trade description, not a regulated title. A trader that handles STCs for installers usually also needs to be a registered agent to create and move certificates in the registry.

What traders do

• Buy certificates from installers, either at a quoted rate or on a spot basis.
• Check claims and lodge them in the registry.
• Take the price risk between buying and selling.
• Sell to retailers, other traders or through the STC clearing house.

In practice

For an installer the choice of trader affects cash flow and risk. The questions are practical.

1. Rate. What do you get for each STC, how often is it published, and is it locked at lodgement?
2. Speed. How long until money is in your account? See how long should STC payment take.
3. Fees. Are there processing or admin charges?
4. Checking. Does the trader review claims before lodging, and what happens if one is queried later? See STC clawback.
5. Contact. Do you have a named person to call?

At the time of writing, STC spot has been roughly $38 to $40 against a $40 clearing house ceiling, so the gap between traders is often small and the service differences count. Energy Merchants publishes its rate on /pricing/. Compare it using the checklist in choosing a certificate trader.

Common confusion

A trader is not an aggregator in the software sense, and it is not the regulator. It also differs from an installer’s retailer relationship. The customer’s electricity retailer is a buyer of certificates, not the installer’s trader.

See /switch/, STC trading and the glossary.