A VEEC pays when someone with an obligation to surrender certificates buys one. That is an energy retailer, usually, and a few steps from you. Between the retailer and your invoice sit the accredited person who creates the certificate, sometimes a trader, and the customer. How you get paid depends on which of them you deal with.
Here are the models, the numbers, and the contract terms that change your bank balance.
What a VEEC is worth at the job level
One VEEC represents one tonne of avoided emissions. How many a job creates depends on the activity, the product and the method in the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program. The market price is separate. At the time of writing the VEEC spot price has been roughly $85 to $95 in 2026, reported at about $85 to $90 in September, after a record near $110.
Use an assumed example for arithmetic. A job creates 20 VEECs. At $87, gross value is $1,740. If the accredited person takes a 10 per cent margin, you or the customer see $1,566. Swap in your real VEEC count from the activity’s calculator and a current quote from a buyer.
Model 1: the discount at the point of sale
The installer reduces the customer’s price by the VEEC value, then collects the certificate payment from the accredited person after lodgement.
Quote: $6,000 for the job, less $1,566 of VEEC value, so the customer pays $4,434. You are then owed $1,566 by the accredited person.
This is persuasive at the sale, and it is how most Victorian consumers experience the program. The cost is float. If you do 25 jobs a month and the accredited person pays 30 days after lodgement, you are carrying about $39,000. At 7 days, about $9,000.
Model 2: assign and receive payment
You assign the certificates to the accredited person at the start. They pay you an agreed amount per job once the evidence is accepted, and the customer’s discount comes out of that.
The commercial question is the rate: a fixed dollar amount per certificate, or a share of the market price? A fixed rate protects you from falling prices and limits your upside when prices rise. A share moves with the market. With prices near records, many installers prefer a locked rate on the day of lodgement.
Model 3: be the accredited person
If you are accredited by the Essential Services Commission (ESC), you create and sell the certificates. You keep the margin, and you carry the compliance. Our guide on becoming a VEU accredited provider gives the break-even logic.
What changed for timing in 2026
According to reports on the 1 July 2026 changes, the old 31 January cut-off for lodging the prior year’s VEECs has been removed, so accredited persons can lodge on a more flexible schedule. For an installer, the practical meaning is that lodgement is less tied to a calendar crunch, but your own payment terms are still set by contract. Our guide to VEU changes from 1 July 2026 covers the changes in full.
The terms that decide your cash flow
Payment trigger. Is payment due on lodgement, on acceptance by the ESC, or on sale to a retailer? Each is progressively later.
Payment date. “Within five business days of acceptance” is clear. “In the next payment run” is not.
Rate lock. Is the rate fixed when you lodge, or can it change before you are paid? Our pricing page shows how a locked rate looks in practice.
Deductions and fees. Per-job admin charges, minimums, and resubmission fees.
Clawback. If a certificate is cancelled after payment, do you repay, and for how long?
A float comparison
| Terms | Float at 25 jobs a month, $1,566 per job |
|---|---|
| 30 days | about $39,000 |
| 14 days | about $18,000 |
| 5 days | about $6,500 |
| Next-business-day | about $1,600 |
If your cost of money is 12 per cent a year, carrying $39,000 costs roughly $4,700 a year. That is more than the gap between a rate of $87 and $85 on the same volume, so terms often beat rate.
Stacked jobs and combined claims
A Victorian heat pump hot water job may create both VEECs and federal STCs, and may qualify for a Solar Victoria rebate, whose household income cap fell to $150,000 on 1 July 2026. Each stream has its own evidence, timing and payer. Treat them as separate receivables and track them separately. Our guide on VEECs and STCs on the same job and the hot water STC page cover how they fit together. For the federal side, use the STC calculator.
Why claims get delayed
Payment slows when evidence does not meet the activity’s requirements. Typical causes are a missing customer consent record, product details that do not match the eligible list, and licence details that cannot be verified. A pre-check before lodgement catches most of them. See VEEC payment time for the timing question in short.
Reading a buyer’s rate sheet
Rate sheets for VEECs vary in structure, and a rate that looks higher can pay less. Three structures are common.
A flat price per VEEC, locked on lodgement. Simple. You know the number on the day you submit, and market moves after that belong to the buyer. This is the structure to prefer when prices are near records, because it turns a volatile asset into a fixed receivable.
A price per VEEC tied to a market index, less a margin. The number you receive depends on where the market sits when the buyer sells. In a rising market you gain, in a falling one you lose. Ask which index and which date.
A fixed fee per job. Convenient, and easy to quote to customers, but it hides the VEEC count. If an activity creates more certificates than assumed, the buyer keeps the extra.
A worked comparison with assumed numbers. A job creates 20 VEECs. Buyer A locks $86 on lodgement: $1,720. Buyer B quotes an index price less 5 per cent, and the index is $88 on the sale day: $1,672, but if it drops to $80, $1,520. Buyer C pays a flat $1,650 per job. The best number depends on where the market goes, and the safest is the one you can fix at lodgement.
Reconciling payments
Whoever pays you, reconcile each payment against the jobs it covers. A remittance should show the job reference, the number of VEECs, the rate and any deduction. If it does not, ask for a version that does, because mismatches are hard to chase months later. Under the Australian tax rules for these arrangements, the buyer may issue a recipient-created tax invoice on your behalf. Our guide on RCTIs, GST and ABN explains the paperwork for certificates, and your accountant can confirm how it applies to your business.
Short answers on this topic: veec trader.
What to do next
- Count your VEU jobs per month and your average VEEC value per job.
- Compare buyers on the five terms above, in writing.
- Calculate your float and decide how much of it you can carry.
- Set up a pre-check so evidence is complete before lodgement.
- Talk to the desk about VEEC trading and how a locked rate works, or start trading.