Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificates (VEECs) are created by accredited businesses, and installers sit in one of two places: inside an accredited business, or underneath one. Which is right depends on volume, appetite for compliance, and how much of the certificate margin you want to keep.
This guide explains how the accreditation works, what it demands, and how to judge whether it is worth it. We use “accredited person” and “accredited provider” the way installers use them in practice: the business registered with the Essential Services Commission (ESC) that can create VEECs. Our shorter piece on becoming a VEU accredited person is a good companion.
What accreditation gives you
An accredited person can register eligible activities under the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program and create VEECs. One VEEC equals one tonne of greenhouse gas abatement. Energy retailers have annual obligations and buy VEECs to meet them, which is why the certificates have a market price. At the time of writing the spot price has been roughly $85 to $95 in 2026, with a record near $110, and reported at about $85 to $90 in September. See VEEC price today for how it moves.
Accreditation lets you keep the full value of the certificates you create, less your own costs. It also makes you responsible for the compliance of every one of them.
The route in
The ESC runs the process through the VEU registry. The detail changes, so treat this as the shape and check the ESC’s current pages for requirements.
- Choose your activities. Heat pump hot water, space heating and cooling, lighting, draught sealing and other eligible activities each have their own requirements, and some are restricted to specific licences.
- Check you can meet the requirements. Product eligibility, installer qualifications, record keeping, and any customer information obligations.
- Apply through the VEU registry with the business details, the people who will be responsible, and the activities you want approval for.
- Be assessed by the ESC, which will look at whether you and your people are suitable and whether your systems can deliver compliant activities.
- Once accredited, register certificates for each job, following the activity’s timing and evidence rules.
- Expect audits. The ESC monitors and audits accredited persons.
If you hold an electrical licence and already work to compliance standards in the federal scheme, much of this will feel familiar. Our guide to how audits work shows the habits that carry over.
The economics: becoming accredited vs working under one
Here is a rough comparison with assumed numbers. Suppose you install 25 VEU jobs a month, each creating 20 VEECs. At $87 a VEEC, gross value per job is $1,740 and per month $43,500.
| Work under an accredited person | Be accredited yourself | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross certificate value | $43,500 a month | $43,500 a month |
| Margin kept by the accredited person (assumed 10%) | $4,350 | $0 |
| Compliance and admin cost | Low | Real: staff time, systems, audit prep |
| Float | Depends on their terms | You manage the sale |
At a 10 per cent margin, you give up $4,350 a month, or $52,200 a year. If the compliance load needs one full-time employee at, say, $80,000 a year, accreditation does not pay at this volume. At 60 jobs a month, the margin you keep is about $125,000 a year, and it starts to. These are illustrations; check your own numbers, because VEEC counts per job vary by activity, and the market price moves.
What the ESC cares about
Reading the ESC’s published guidance and compliance reports, three themes recur.
Who is doing the work. The activity must be performed by people with the right licences, and the records must show it.
Whether the product is eligible. The product must meet the activity’s specification and be listed or documented as required.
Whether the customer was treated fairly. VEU is a consumer-facing program. The ESC expects customer information, consent and, in some activities, a minimum co-payment, to be handled properly.
Working under an accredited person
If accreditation is not yet worthwhile, work under one. You install, record the evidence, and they create and sell the certificates. The questions to ask are the same as in NSW, and the answers decide your cash flow.
- When do you pay? Count from the date you submit the job, not from certificate creation.
- What do you deduct? Fees, minimums, resubmission charges.
- Who is on the hook for a disallowed certificate? Check the clawback wording.
- Do you cover all the activities I do? A gap forces a second relationship.
Our guide on how installers get paid for VEECs covers the payment models, and our VEEC trading page explains how we buy certificates from Victorian partners.
How this connects to the rest of your work
Many Victorian jobs create both VEECs and STCs. A heat pump hot water installation is the classic case, and the heat pump rebate stack shows how the incentives combine. Our piece on VEECs and STCs on the same job covers the evidence side. Run any federal numbers through the STC calculator.
Mistakes that slow an application
Applying before you have a process. An application that describes what you hope to do, rather than what you do, invites questions. Write the process, then test it on a handful of real jobs.
Choosing too many activities. Each activity has its own product and installer rules. A business that is strong on heat pump hot water and lighting and weak on everything else is better to apply for the first two.
Ignoring who is responsible. The ESC wants to know which named people are accountable for compliance. A shared inbox is not a person.
Underestimating customer obligations. VEU is a consumer program. If your sales process uses door knocking or cold calling, check the rules on how customers are approached and what they must be told. Breaches here have drawn ESC attention across the industry, and the regulator is not shy about publishing outcomes.
A timeline to plan around
The ESC sets the assessment, so we cannot promise dates. A sensible plan allows time for four phases: writing and testing your procedures, completing the application, answering the ESC’s follow-up, and a probationary period in which you create your first certificates and expect closer scrutiny. Treat the first quarter as a learning period and avoid committing the whole business to VEU income until it has passed.
If your cash flow depends on certificates starting by a given date, start under an existing accredited person and move across later. The jobs, the evidence and the training carry over, and you collect real data on how many VEECs you create per job, which makes the break-even sum honest.
What to do next
- List your VEU jobs by activity and volume.
- Run the break-even sum with your own VEEC counts and a current price.
- Read the ESC’s accreditation requirements for your chosen activities.
- If you stay under an accredited person, get terms in writing and compare them with a VEEC trader.
- Check the resources at /resources/ for checklists you can adapt.
- Review the 2026 changes in VEU program changes before you set up your processes.