NSW certificates pay in a chain, and the installer is at the end of it. A retailer buys the certificate, a trader or ACP sells it, and somewhere along the way the value gets back to the person who did the work. Where you stand in that chain decides how fast you are paid, how much you keep, and who carries the risk if a claim goes wrong.
Here are the three common models for ESCs (Energy Savings Certificates) and PRCs (Peak Reduction Certificates), with the numbers and the traps.
Model 1: the customer discount
The installer applies the certificate value as a discount on the invoice, then claims it back through an ACP.
You quote the customer, say, $4,200 less $600 of certificate value, so the customer pays $3,600. You then assign the certificates to an ACP, who pays you $600 (less any agreed margin) after lodgement.
Pros: the customer sees the incentive clearly, and it helps close the sale. Cons: you fund the $600 until the ACP pays. At 30 jobs a month, that is $18,000 of float. Timing is everything, and our piece on NSW ESC payment time explains what is typical.
Model 2: assignment for a per-job payment
The installer assigns the right to the certificates to an ACP at the start. The ACP pays a fixed amount per job, or a rate per certificate, once the evidence is accepted.
Worked example with assumed numbers. A job creates 40 PRCs. The reported market is roughly $3 per PRC, so $120 gross. The ACP pays you $2.40 per PRC, $96, and keeps $24 for running the process and carrying risk. That is a 20 per cent margin, and it is not unusual for a low-value certificate.
For ESCs the gross figures are usually larger per job, but the same structure applies. If an activity creates 15 ESCs at an assumed $25, gross value is $375, and a 15 per cent margin leaves you $319.
Model 3: become the ACP and keep the margin
If you are accredited, you create the certificates and sell them yourself, to a retailer or through a trader. You keep the margin, and you carry the compliance obligations. See how to become an ACP in NSW for the requirements.
At volume, this is the better economic model. At low volume, the cost of staying accredited outweighs the margin you save.
| Model | Who creates certificates | Your cash timing | Your risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer discount, then claim | ACP | You fund the discount until paid | Float, plus clawback |
| Assign to ACP for a fixed payment | ACP | Per ACP’s terms | Mostly the ACP’s |
| Be the ACP | You | You choose how and when to sell | All of it |
The terms that matter more than the rate
A headline rate per certificate is easy to compare. These terms are harder and often worth more.
Payment date. “Within 30 days” is a month of float. “Within two business days of acceptance” is not. Count from the date you lodge, not the date the certificate is created, because the gap can be long.
Deductions. Look for admin fees, registry fees, per-job minimums, and charges for resubmitting a rejected claim. On a $96 PRC job, a $15 fee is 15 per cent.
Clawback. If a certificate is later cancelled, does the ACP claim the money back from you? For how long? Is it limited to errors in your evidence, or any reason at all?
Rate certainty. Is the rate fixed at lodgement, or can the buyer re-price before paying? A price that floats while you wait is a risk transferred to you.
Evidence standard. Who decides whether your evidence is good enough, and what happens to a borderline job?
Putting a number on the delay
Suppose you do 40 NSW certificate jobs a month at $200 of certificate value each. Gross value is $8,000 a month.
- On 30-day terms you carry about $8,000 at any time.
- On 7-day terms about $1,900.
- On 2-day terms about $530.
If your cost of money is 10 per cent a year, carrying $8,000 costs about $800 a year, which is real but not dramatic. The bigger effect is on growth. When you want to take on more jobs, every extra job needs its own float, so slow terms cap the size of the business before the work does.
How federal certificates compare
Federal STCs have a different rhythm. There is an active market, published daily rates and fast settlement is normal at the front of the market. At the time of writing STCs trade at roughly $38 to $40, and a 14 kWh battery at a 6.8 factor creates about 95 STCs, worth about $3,610. See the battery STC calculator for your own figures. NSW certificates are thinner and slower by comparison, and that is why they usually sit as a top-up on jobs that already create STCs.
If a job creates both kinds, treat them as two separate receivables. Our guide to VEECs and STCs on one job uses the same logic for Victoria. And for a quick answer on the PRC market, see peak reduction certificate price.
Three scenarios side by side
Numbers make the models easier to compare. Assume a PRC-heavy installer doing 30 jobs a month, each creating certificates with a gross value of $150.
| Customer discount, then claim | Assign, ACP pays fixed | Be the ACP | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross certificate value a month | $4,500 | $4,500 | $4,500 |
| Margin to ACP (assumed 20%) | $900 | $900 | $0 |
| Net to installer | $3,600 | $3,600 | $4,500 less compliance cost |
| Float carried (30-day terms) | $4,500 plus discount funded | about $4,500 | You choose the sale terms |
If your compliance cost as an ACP is $2,500 a month (a part-time role and systems), you net $2,000, which is worse than the other two. At 100 jobs a month the gross is $15,000, ACP margin $3,000, and the same $2,500 cost leaves you ahead. The crossover is somewhere in between, and it moves with certificate value per job. Those inputs are assumptions, so use your own.
When a rejection hits your payment
Rejections are the quiet cost in certificate income. A job that fails evidence review earns nothing until it is fixed, and a fix can mean a return visit, which costs more than the certificate was worth.
Two habits reduce the damage. First, have the ACP or buyer pre-check evidence before it is lodged, not after, because a pre-check costs minutes and a rejection costs weeks. Second, keep job files complete enough to answer a query without a site visit. Our guide on how to fix a failed claim describes the same discipline on the federal side, and the photo requirements show what good evidence looks like.
What to do next
- Write down your payment terms for each certificate type, and check them against the five terms above.
- Calculate your float with the formula in the callout.
- Ask for clawback terms in writing, including time limits.
- Check the ACP’s evidence rules before the first job, not after the first rejection.
- Talk to the desk about NSW certificates at ESCs and PRCs, and see how it works for how settlement runs on the federal side.