Save your customers money and energy with the Victorian Energy Upgrades program
With the VEU program, you can:
- increase your customer base by offering discounted energy efficient products and services
- reduce greenhouse gases.
The VEU is a voluntary Victorian government initiative that incentivises Victorians to make energy efficient improvements to their homes and businesses. VEU helps cut power bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Opportunities for tradespeople
You can offer your customers energy saving products. Offering higher quality and more efficient products at a similar or reduced price will give your business an energy efficient edge.
Through VEU, you can collect a rebate for installing these energy-efficient products. This rebate can be used to lower costs for consumers, making energy efficient products the number one choice. The rebate amount depends on how much energy is saved from the installed product. The more energy saved through a product installed, the bigger the rebate.
Note: depending on your current skill set and the activity, you might not need further training to install energy efficient products – you could be installing accredited products already.
How VEECs are created

Your business installs a registered energy efficient product and collects evidence. By doing so, your business can either:
- earn VEECs itself as an accredited provider, or
- partner with an accredited provider who can generate VEECs for your installation activities.
The VEECs are sold at their market rate (i.e. to energy retailers), and the revenue generated represents the rebate you earn for installing the registered product.
The result of the process is that:
- the rebate your business earns reduces the cost of installing the efficient products (giving your business a competitive edge)
- your customer receives discounted efficient products when the cost savings are passed on, plus lowers their energy bills
- Victorian households and businesses use less energy, which translates to less greenhouse gas emissions.
Context
- The Essential Services Commission awards Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificates (VEECs) for installing registered VEU products (e.g. efficient reverse cycle air conditioners).
- Different activities (e.g. which type of appliance is installed) earns a different amount of VEECs, depending on how much energy is saved from installing the more efficient product.
- 1 VEEC = 1 tonne of greenhouse gas removed/avoided.
- VEECs are sold at their market price to energy retailers who are required to surrender VEECs to the government.
- Revenue earned from selling VEECs represents a rebate for installing the more efficient product.
Responsibilities when creating VEECs
| Accredited provider | Third party/installer | Consumer |
---|
Undertakes upgrade | Yes | Yes | |
Collects evidence | Yes | Yes | |
Submits evidence | Yes | | |
Manages compliance | Yes | | |
Creates VEECs | Yes | | |
Commissions upgrade | | | Yes |
How do I get involved?
There are 2 steps to participating:
Step 1
First, you need to investigate the opportunities you would like to deliver.
Step 2
To offer discounted/rebated upgrades to your consumers, you must either:
- work with an accredited provider
- become an accredited provider.
VEU Code of Conduct
The VEU program has a Code of Conduct setting out minimum standards of behaviour to protect consumers. This applies to everyone involved in delivering or marketing upgrades. VEU Code of Conduct.