VEU ceiling insulation webinar

This transcript relates to the VEU Ceiling Insulation Activity webinar presented by representatives from Solar Victoria and the Essential Services Commission.

[On-screen text: VEU Ceiling Insulation Activity webinar]

[On-screen text: Renae V Gasmier, Energy Efficiency Target Reform Executive Director at Solar Victoria]

Renae Gasmier: Hello, I'm Renae Gasmier, Energy Efficiency Target Reform Executive Director at Solar Victoria. I'm going to be hosting this session today supported by some really great people from Solar Victoria and the Essential Services Commission.

Renae Gasmier: I'd like to begin and of which you meet today remotely, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, and I'd like to extend my respects to elders past and present.

Renae Gasmier: What we'd like you to get out of today's session really is, I suppose, firstly, to demystify what the Victorian Energy Upgrades is.

Renae Gasmier: We want you to hear about the insulation opportunity and its design and requirements. So, you've got a really good feeling and understanding on how to participate.

Renae Gasmier: I'm just going to say also up front, you're going to hear some acronyms from us, but hopefully we can make it simple for you.

Renae Gasmier: Just in terms of housekeeping, cameras and mics are off for the presentation, but they will be enabled for the Q&A section at the end.

Renae Gasmier: This session is also being recorded and we'll make it available on the DEECA Insulation Industry landing page.

Renae Gasmier: Along with the pack presented. So, feel free to post questions in the chat throughout the session.

Renae Gasmier: We'll answer some of them as we go but also look to answer them in the Q&A for you.

[Slide showing an overview of the Victorian Energy Upgrades program, including energy bill savings, upgrade participation and greenhouse gas emissions reduced]

Renae Gasmier: So firstly, the Victorian Energy Upgrades is actually Australia's largest energy efficiency program.

Renae Gasmier: The program is designed to help households and businesses reduce their energy use and lower their energy bills.

Renae Gasmier: So far, since the program started in 2009, 2.6 million households and businesses have received upgrades.

Renae Gasmier: Which has seen savings of $400 million on energy bills.

Renae Gasmier: And what that's equated to is 93 million tonnes of greenhouse gases emissions abated.

Renae Gasmier: The VEU program offers discounts on upgrades for households and businesses, improving their energy efficiency and cutting down their power bills and reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.

[Slide outlining the benefits of the ceiling insulation activity, including emissions reduction, local manufacturing support and improved household energy efficiency]

Renae Gasmier: We know that nearly 60% of Victorian homes have no or inadequate ceiling insulation.

Renae Gasmier: So now this new insulation activity will do three things.

Renae Gasmier: It will help reduce emissions; it will support local manufacturing and improve the energy efficiency of Victorian homes.

Renae Gasmier: We are really seeking to grow the insulation workforce to include installers with high-quality standards that provide safe and quality insulation for retrofit homes and excited to talk to you about that today.

[Slide outlining minimum energy efficiency standards for rental properties, including insulation, draught proofing, heating, cooling and hot water requirements]

Renae Gasmier: Energy efficient homes cost less to run their energy bills, they're more climate resilient and they're healthier to live and they obviously generate lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Renae Gasmier: The requirements for what we call the minimum energy efficient standards, or MEES, another acronym, they're going to come into place on the 1 of March 2027.

Renae Gasmier: The MEES requirement will be that a suitably qualified person to carry out the upgrade must be ECC certified.

Renae Gasmier: So, the ECC is the Energy Efficiency Council.

Renae Gasmier: Changes to building standards also require residential and commercial buildings to be electric, and unless an exemption applies, the end of life water heating must be upgraded to electric.

Renae Gasmier: All rental properties in Victoria must comply with ceiling Insulation Standard at the start of a new lease.

Renae Gasmier: So, the VEAT Act, as it's called, now allows for regulations to be made exempt from activities, from requirements for additionality.

Renae Gasmier: Let's move on to the next one.

[Slide showing the benefits of ceiling insulation, including improved comfort, lower energy bills, health benefits and reduced greenhouse gas emissions]

Renae Gasmier: The benefits of insulation upgrades are really well documented.

Renae Gasmier: So, homes are ceiling insulation; they're much more comfortable.

Renae Gasmier: So that presence of the insulation keeps homes feeling warmer in winter, much cooler in summer, increasing comfort for people who live within.

Renae Gasmier: Insulation improves health; it builds resilience for climate change.

Renae Gasmier: You'll see kind of reduce the adverse health impacts associated with extreme temperatures and strengthens the resilience of home and climate change.

Renae Gasmier: Another key point is that insulation leads to lower energy bills.

Renae Gasmier: So, Insulation can unlock savings of up to around $418 in energy bills.

Renae Gasmier: We would say $850 in health bills and up to 0.9 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per upgraded home each year.

Renae Gasmier: So, these savings really make insulation one of the most cost-effective energy efficiency measures for homes.

Renae Gasmier: And what the support of the program is providing is to expand, train and certify the insulation industry.

Renae Gasmier: We are really seeking to grow the insulation workforce to include installers with high standards for safe and quality installations in retrofit homes.

Renae Gasmier: I'm going to pass to Will Dalton. Will is our policy manager for the new Insulation activity and he's going to run through the fundamentals of the new activity design.

[On-screen text: Will Dalton, Policy Manager, Solar Victoria]

Will Dalton: Thank you, Renae, and hi everyone. It's great to be here talking to you about this new activity.

Will Dalton: As Renee has mentioned, improving thermal insulation of ceilings has long been recognised as one of the most significant and cost-effective means for improving the thermal performance of residential buildings.

Will Dalton: It's something we've been working on as a group for, you know, a bit over 12 months now.

Will Dalton: It's exciting for us to be here today talking about this new activity and the design that is based off significant industry and expert consultation.

Will Dalton: We're really looking forward to October when Stage 2 will launch to all eligible Victorian homes.

Will Dalton: I'll give you a bit of an overview of just sort of the three key sort of pillars of the work and then I'll go into some more detail against each.

[Slide outlining installer certification requirements, training pathways and workforce development initiatives supporting the ceiling insulation activity]

Will Dalton: As Renee mentioned, training and workforce development is a really important element of this work.

Will Dalton: There is a requirement for installers to be fully ECC certified. There's another acronym for you, that one's Energy Efficiency Council.

Will Dalton: So the ECC, the responsible entity for certifying installers, and all installers need to be fully certified, not provisionally certified, but fully certified.

Will Dalton: There has been a little bit of misunderstanding around allied workers and their role, you know, labourers, people sort of working on the ground around the home.

Will Dalton: We don't classify them as installers, so they don't need to be ECC certified.

Will Dalton: It's really the installers, the people in the ceiling that are required to be ECC certified.

Will Dalton: And yeah, so obviously the ECC is the body that undertakes the certification and part of that certification involves training.

Will Dalton: So where the Victorian government through Solar Victoria has subsidised training and the certification application fee as well since November 2025 and we have 3 RTOs or registered training organisations who are providing the training.

Will Dalton: And then as I mentioned backed up by the ECC to then deliver the certification, which involves installers having to submit job assessment forms that sort of demonstrate on the job experience.

Will Dalton: So encourage anyone in the audience, you know, who may not have taken advantage of the training.

Will Dalton: If you're an installer or looking to be, then that's important to do.

Will Dalton: The funding for that is only available for a limited time. So, you know, make sure you take advantage of that.

Will Dalton: And also, if there's any businesses with installers that are moving through that certification process, we encourage you to support them through that.

[Slide showing safety and quality requirements for ceiling insulation activities]

Will Dalton: The other element of our package of work is around safety and quality and we are working with the relevant regulatory agencies to ensure workplace and electrical safety through compliance and enforcement activities.

Will Dalton: This includes the development of an audit program for which an independent auditor who has been appointed to undertake audits and that will really scale up from October in anticipation of increased demand.

Will Dalton: And obviously that independent auditor works on behalf of the Essential Services Commission, which is the regulator responsible.

Will Dalton: And we also have been in discussions with WorkSafe and Energy Safe Victoria, who also have roles in terms of on-site inspections related to worker safety and any electrical work that's been undertaken on the homes.

Will Dalton: Which is a familiar thing for the VEU program.

Will Dalton: It is a thing that relates to many of the activities.

Will Dalton: And it's worth noting too that the customer is usually the energy consumer of the home.

Will Dalton: In cases where the customer is not the energy consumer, such as a landlord undertaking an upgrade, then the customer will be the homeowner and the customer is the one who consents for the relevant forms and inspections and audits, which all sort of feed into the ability to create the VIC certificates that Renae mentioned earlier.

[Worked example demonstrating how Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificates are calculated]

Will Dalton: And just on the VICs, you might be wondering how these are calculated and what goes into that calculation.

Will Dalton: We've got a worked example here and essentially the equation, which is this detail sits within the specifications for the activity.

Will Dalton: Which is available on our website.

Will Dalton: But essentially the calculation is based on the greenhouse gas savings that we estimate across three different regions of climatic zones.

Will Dalton: So, a mild, hot and a cold and a hot climate zone.

Will Dalton: Those 3 zones have different GHG savings ratings.

Will Dalton: That's one element of the calculation.

Will Dalton: Another is the area upgraded, the lifetime.

Will Dalton: So, we expect that Insulation lasts 25 years at its optimal operating level.

Will Dalton: Actually, it can be a lot longer than that, but that is the assumption we've used for the calculation.

Will Dalton: And there's also a regional factor in there too, which has a slight difference for regional versus metro Upgrades.

Will Dalton: So, we've got a worked example on the screen there that essentially highlights that using an area of 150 square metres, which is, you know, probably a typical sized home and those other factors in a regional Victorian location would generate 21 vex, which at the current price of around $86 a week equals $1,800.

Will Dalton: So that's a significant incentive that we expect to discount the entire cost of the activity by up to 50% that Renee mentioned earlier.

Will Dalton: But the price obviously of that leak on the open market does fluctuate.

Will Dalton: So, it's $86 around there at the moment, but it can go up and down.

Will Dalton: So that's just worth noting as well.

Will Dalton: I think in terms of the most important factors for accredited providers or people in the industry looking to participate and generate themselves, it's probably the postcode, because that determines what climate zone you're in, whether you're in that sort of hot, mild or cold, and then the area of the upgrade.

Will Dalton: So how many square metres are we talking about in terms of the other elements of the equation, the GHG savings?

Will Dalton: That's a fairly complex calculation that factors in the CSIRO's housing stock model and looks at across Victoria what the cooling and heating load savings are across those three different zones and what the existing heating and cooling equipment are in the house and the housing type, so what the housing stock is like.

Will Dalton: So that gives us an assessment of, okay, if we upgrade with Insulation, we're expected to save this.

Will Dalton: And it does differ across those three climate zones.

Will Dalton: I'll move on to the next slide.

[Slide showing eligible insulation products and certification requirements]

Will Dalton: I mentioned products before. This is quite important.

Will Dalton: We've got two Australian made products that are currently registered on the Essential Services Commission website.

Will Dalton: So that's the CSR Bradford's product and the Fletcher's product as well.

Will Dalton: These products are of the highest standard.

Will Dalton: We require that a code mark certificate is associated with these products for two really important standards.

Will Dalton: The first is the thermal Insulation Standard.

Will Dalton: So that gives us independent verification that the product says is doing what it says it's doing in terms of thermal insulation.

Will Dalton: But the other one is around fire safety and making sure that the product meets certain parameters around ignitability, flame propagation and smoke release, things like that.

Will Dalton: So, we have these sort of safeguards in place through requiring a code mark certification.

Will Dalton: And obviously the batts, but also rigid board and like blanket insulation is eligible, but the things that aren't eligible are worth noting to.

Will Dalton: Blow-in Insulation, which is that sort of insulation that used to get used quite a lot in the 80s and into the 90s, and still is used in some cases, but we're not supporting its use.

Will Dalton: It's banned as well as the foil or fall-faced bulk insulation products and expanding foaming products.

[Diagram showing the ceiling insulation installation process]

Will Dalton: Thanks, Alan.

Will Dalton: In terms of the actual sort of high level activity installation process, it all starts with a quote, the customer accepting that and then having the installer booking in the actual job.

Will Dalton: Often, this will be start with the customer themselves instigating the process, seeking different quotes and then signing on with the successful installer group slash AP.

Will Dalton: There's A consent component with that and then which essentially provides the AP with information that allows the regulators to share information with other regulators to sort of back up the inspection program.

Will Dalton: Probably one of the most important parts of the activity following the quote and the acceptance is that a pre-installation electrical assessment is undertaken by a qualified electrician to ensure, for obvious reasons, that the ceiling space is electrically sound and that it's safe.

Will Dalton: And that the actual installation can't go ahead until an electrician has provided that form to the owner of the house as well as the installer prior to the installation going ahead.

Will Dalton: The accredited provider, person who's sending, creating the VICs and sending the information on to the regulator, ESC, submits the job notification.

Will Dalton: So, they need to give notification that the job is about to happen up to within 24 hours or up to five days.

Will Dalton: So that allows us to then make sure we've can line everything up with the inspection program.

Will Dalton: And then there's also a pre-installation assessment undertaken by the installer themselves.

Will Dalton: So the electrical bit's been done, the installer comes in and does their own assessment on the day normally with the electrical form in hand to make sure that they're comfortable with the safety elements of the roof and things like edge protection, you know, SWIMS, which are the safe work method statements are in place, and more safety related elements for the workers and the installers themselves.

Will Dalton: And then obviously the installation of the approved products completed.

Will Dalton: Sometimes there might need to be an electrician on site if it's a particularly sort of difficult ceiling in terms of its sort of layout of cabling and things like that.

Will Dalton: And but yeah, obviously the installation of the approved Product is completed, collection of evidence and records is required, and this feeds into the requirements for the Essential Services Commission in terms of making sure that the activity was completed in the right way with the right products.

Will Dalton: Geo-tagged photos and things like that are sort of collected, but Mindy will get to that in a little bit.

Will Dalton: And then post-installation, yeah, that's where the assignment form is supplied by the accredited person and the customer signs that and then the VICs are generated.

Will Dalton: Obviously, there's an invoicing element to that as well that the customer receives and makes the payments for the works, noting their co-contribution.

Will Dalton: And then it all finishes, yeah, with the creation of the VEX and the sale of the VEX by the AP to the energy retailers that Renee mentioned earlier.

Will Dalton: So that's sort of the process very quickly.

[Slide outlining electrical safety assessment requirements before installation]

Will Dalton: I'll go into a little bit more detail around the electrical safety assessment.

Will Dalton: That's really designed to assess the safety of the ceiling and ensure that it's safe for both the installer and the homeowner as well.

Will Dalton: So that must be passed to the installer and the homeowner, that actual assessment form.

Will Dalton: It's an opportunity for any rectification works to be undertaken as well at this point.

Will Dalton: Some homes might be quite old and be needing to be repaired and to be brought up to a certain standard.

Will Dalton: And where that happens, a certificate of electrical safety will often be generated by the electrician to do the works.

Will Dalton: And the Energy Safe Victoria electrical regulator is notified of that so that their work can be inspected as well if required.

Will Dalton: And so that's the first form, the electrical safety.

Will Dalton: The installer safety is the other form and these are on our website so you can view those.

Will Dalton: And that one is completed, as I mentioned, by the installer on the day and it assesses for sort of other risks and hazards, you know, the fall protection and things like that. Will Dalton: And then the notification is important.

Will Dalton: And then the notification is important because that sort of is sent by the AP to the regulator to ESC minimum of 24 hours prior to the installation and a maximum of five days.

Will Dalton: And that will then allow the on-site inspections to, it will facilitate that with the provision of information about where the homes are located, etc.

Will Dalton: Thanks, Owen.

[Diagram outlining how audits, inspections and compliance activities are used to monitor installation quality, safety requirements and regulatory compliance]

Will Dalton: I'll finish off, I'm nearly done and then we'll be handing, I'll be handing over to Mindy from the ESC.

Will Dalton: But yeah, essentially, for those who might be familiar with Solar Victoria program, you'll know that we've been sort of conducting audits of our programs for several years, you know, like the solar PV program, for instance, but the hot water program as well.

Will Dalton: We've had battery program in the past and these audits are a really important part of making sure that the work's up to speed and that the sector's, you know, trained and meeting all the relevant requirements.

Will Dalton: So, Insulation for us will be no different. We really want to ensure the high standards for quality for customers. We want to ensure safety for homeowners.

Will Dalton: And we're learning through this staged rollout, which we're currently in with the first stage of the activity in public housing, and we'll be taking those learnings into the broader market in October.

Will Dalton: But yeah, I think I've mentioned that the infield audits will be occurring from the regulators.

Will Dalton: And yeah, we're working in close partnership with ESC to manage that program.

Will Dalton: So, I think they're probably the main thing, other than, I'll just finish by saying there's a lot of guidance material that's been published on the DEECA website on the industry page to support the safe installation of Insulation.

[Slide showing safety guidance resources available to insulation installers, including Working Safely at Heights technical guidance]

Will Dalton: And this slide shows an example of that, which is the Working Safely at Heights technical guidance, but there's other material there as well for people to look at.

Will Dalton: And we're open to hearing about other resources or support that might be of use.

Will Dalton: Please, yeah, feel free to reach out and contact the team if you think we're missing anything.

Will Dalton: But there's other things like working safely with ladders, manual handling of heavy and bulky items, etc.

Will Dalton: So yeah, hopefully that's useful. Thanks, Owen.

Will Dalton: I'll hand now over to Mindy, who's the accreditations manager with the Essential Services Commission to talk through some of the requirements on their side. Thanks, Mindy.

[On-screen text: Mindy Lim, Accreditation Manager, Essential Services Commission]

Mindy Lim: Cheers Will. Hello everybody. Good afternoon.

Mindy Lim: My name is Mindy and I am the Accreditation Manager at the Essential Services Commission at the Victorian Energy Upgrades program.

Mindy Lim: I will outline the pathways that you can participate and provide you with a general overview of requirements and call out some specifics in relation to the Insulation activity.

Mindy Lim: Now, just a reminder, these slides will be available online too for your reference and also a reminder that the products register has been updated.

Mindy Lim: So, the correct register will show products that have been approved for ceiling Insulation.

Mindy Lim: The outdated one does not.

[Slide outlining electrical safety assessment requirements, inspection processes and documentation that must be completed before installation can proceed]

Mindy Lim: So, in terms of, you know, DEECA role in developing the programs, framework and targets and legislation, the Victorian Energy Upgrades, for the energy Victorian Energy Upgrades, the Commission is the regulator overseeing compliance and accreditation.

Mindy Lim: So, the process map that you see before you is a visual guide of the steps in completing an assessment to be a VEU accredited person.

Mindy Lim: So please note, of course, that fees apply for a new accreditation application.

Mindy Lim: So, following the payment of a fee, the usual process is undertaken before the Commission makes a decision in relation to the assessment and applicants are then notified.

Mindy Lim: So, once approved, applicants can undertake activities and claim fees.

[Diagram showing participation pathways in the Victorian Energy Upgrades program]

Mindy Lim: There are two ways to get involved in the VEU.

Mindy Lim: So firstly, of course, becoming an accredited person, you will engage with the consumer and be able to provide upgrades under the prescribed activities that you are accredited for.

Mindy Lim: You will be responsible for lead generation. The upgrade works and associated compliance, as well as collating all required documentation and evidence required to create compliant fix.

Mindy Lim: And secondly, you can also work with an aggregator as a scheme participant.

Mindy Lim: Now, this is just in general for all prescribed activities and is not applicable in every scenario, but working as a scheme participant means you do not have to become accredited.

Mindy Lim: You work under a business who is already accredited, and that particular business will provide you training on compliance, program compliance, and evidentiary requirements for activities.

Mindy Lim: The accredited person will also handle due diligence and uploading of jobs for V creations.

Mindy Lim: So, all APs for activities are included on the ESC website.

Mindy Lim: So do shop around and discuss with businesses who are already participating before entering a contract to deliver instals on an AP's behalf.

[Slide outlining accreditation assessment criteria, including fit and proper person requirements, compliance checks, qualifications and business capability requirements]

Mindy Lim: Next slide, please, Owen. Thank you.

Mindy Lim: So, I just wanted to preface this. So crucially, the Commission must determine whether an applicant is fit and proper and competent and capable to undertake the activity as part of his assessment.

Mindy Lim: The legislation does give Commission power to take into consideration a number of matters, including any relevant matters.

Mindy Lim: So, for example, we do require police cheques as part of our assessment.

Mindy Lim: We also conduct compliance cheques with other external regulators.

Mindy Lim: Applicants must also provide a series of declarations in relation to its senior officers and disclose matters in relation to external administration.

Mindy Lim: As part of our assessment process, our officers do review website content and social media, and any misrepresentations or false affiliations should be removed.

Mindy Lim: As for competent and capable to undertake activity, the Commission will look for appropriate licencing and qualifications, occupational health and safety, and quality assurance policies.

Mindy Lim: Next slide, please, Owen.

[Slide outlining proposed accreditation controls and compliance conditions]

Mindy Lim: So, on the left side of the screen, there, as discussed at the beginning of the session, there are new proposed controls to limit the activity to those persons with relevant skills and experience to undertake the Insulation Upgrades.

Mindy Lim: For example, we require things like the the applicant has been training for a minimum of two years and has experience in the building, construction, or insulation industry.

Mindy Lim: We're also looking for whether the applicant has relevant policies and procedures in place, such as demonstrating evidence of directly employed Energy Efficiency Council certified insulation installers, or alternatively contracts with insulation businesses.

Mindy Lim: That has ECC certified insulation installer staff.

Mindy Lim: We're also examining quality assurance regimes, including your site, desktop and phone reviews and compliance practises to ensure Insulation is compliant with AS399.

Mindy Lim: We're also looking at occupational health and safety adherence by way of examining your policies and procedures.

Mindy Lim: And on the right side of the screen, I also wanted to take this opportunity to flag that there are generic conditions that will apply to all accredited persons undertaking this activity, which may be subject to change in the future.

Mindy Lim: A bit of, I guess, background about these conditions, you know, they do include key safety and quality requirements that are specified under the VEU regulations and specifications, such as pre-installation safety assessments and notifications, as referred to by Will earlier in the session.

Mindy Lim: These conditions also support compliance monitoring, including inspections, to help ensure that installations are safe and meet program requirements.

Mindy Lim: All accreditation applicants should carefully review these conditions to ensure they understand the requirements of the activity and all accredited persons must comply with the condition in relation to an install, even if no VICs are created for the installation.

Mindy Lim: And of course, if an AP does fail to comply with the condition, the Commission may take further compliance or enforcement action.

Mindy Lim: Next slide, please.

[Slide outlining electrical safety assessment requirements, including inspections, safety checks and documentation that must be completed before ceiling insulation installation can proceed]

Mindy Lim: In terms of installer requirements, I also wanted to flag that there will be minimum training and competency requirements for each scheme participant or SP that undertakes work relating to the proposed ceiling Insulation activity.

Mindy Lim: So, A scheme participant can be an individual or a company, and a scheme participant is a person other than an accredited person who is engaged in undertaking any part of the prescribed activity.

Mindy Lim: So, for example, under the Insulation activity, this would typically be the installer of the insulation.

Mindy Lim: As mentioned before, the ECC Insulation in Solar certification requires evidence of successful completion, which is the certificate of attainment from a registered training organisation for the relevant training units.

Mindy Lim: Just for your information, there are five prescribed training units covering areas such as work health and safety, measurements and calculations, working safely at heights, Insulation, installation,

[Slide outlining minimum training, certification, insurance and competency requirements for installers participating in the ceiling insulation activity]

Mindy Lim: And preparation for insulation retrofitting within ceiling spaces.

Mindy Lim: The particular person also does require public liability insurance of $5 million.

Mindy Lim: And hold a white card certification.

[Slide outlining contractual and delivery requirements for ceiling insulation activities, including the roles of accredited persons, contractors and energy consumers]

Mindy Lim: Next slide, please, Alton.

Mindy Lim: I wanted to also flag, you know, there's given the competent, capable matters set out in regulation 37 E of the VEAT regulations, it is the commission's expectations that accredited persons must ensure the ceiling Insulation activities undertaken between a under a contract between the applicant and the energy consumer.

Mindy Lim: Either via by the accredited person themselves, i.e. a sole trader, the employees of the accredited person company, or individuals or companies who are acting as contractors undertaking the Insulation install.

Mindy Lim: On behalf of the applicant.

Mindy Lim: This may involve the contractor entering into the contract with the consumer as agent for the accredited person.

[Diagram showing different delivery models for ceiling insulation activities]

Mindy Lim: In terms of delivery model, you know, there are, I just wanted to take the opportunity to point out the different delivery models.

Mindy Lim: So, we've got the sole delivery model where the applicant engages the consumer as an energy consumer as a customer directly and is responsible for all aspects of undertaking the prescribed activity.

Mindy Lim: The contractor delivery model where the applicant engages the energy consumer and the activities wholly or partially undertaken by contractors under the direction of the applicant.

Mindy Lim: And thirdly, there is the third-party delivery aggregator model where the applicant has no direct relationship with the energy consumer.

Mindy Lim: The aggregator takes care of the administration, creation and trading of VICMIN.

Mindy Lim: So, this means accredited persons who currently operate as an aggregator or under a similar third-party delivery aggregator model where the accredited person does not supply the service to the consumer will not be eligible for the ceiling Insulation and may wish to consider other implementation models.

Mindy Lim: As I said, this does not prevent accredited persons from engaging third parties to support delivery of the activity, such as to enter contracts with consumers on the AP's behalf under a principal agent relationship.

Mindy Lim: However, the overall arrangements must result in a contract between the AP and the consumer for undertaking the activity.

Mindy Lim: If the Commission staff does assess that an accredited person has created a certificate for a ceiling Insulation activity that was not undertaken under a contract between the accredited person and an energy consumer, we do reserve the right to refuse registration of the certificate, and we may also take further compliance or enforcement action.

Mindy Lim: Next slide, please, Owen.

[Case study example showing how contractual arrangements between accredited persons, contractors and consumers may operate under different delivery models]

Mindy Lim: We have outlined a bit of a case scenario here.

Mindy Lim: I'll leave that for you to read, but depending on the business model used, the Commission staff may also request relevant evidence, such as consumer contracts, agreements with third parties, records showing authority for third parties to act on behalf of the AP, consumer-facing documentation and processes that are consistent with the APB, the contracting party.

Mindy Lim: Yep. Next slide, please, Owen. Thank you.

[Slide listing key documents and information required to apply for accreditation, including application forms, supporting evidence and documentation submitted through the online portal]

Mindy Lim: So I just wanted to show you all a list of some of the key application documents.

Mindy Lim: So as part of the process, these are some of the key, yeah, key information that we request.

Mindy Lim: You will be required to upload files and answer questions in our online portal.

Mindy Lim: And our accreditation officers will request further information from you, you know, for further, if they require further clarification, of course, and applicants must respond to the request.

Mindy Lim: It is the applicant's responsibility to keep contact details up to date in the portal, as the application may be refused if we do not receive a response after some follow-ups.

Mindy Lim: Upon accreditation, accredited persons must comply with conditions placed on their accreditation and abide by the requirement to undergo an assurance audit every two years.

Mindy Lim: All accredited persons can also apply to vary and add additional activities via our website.

Mindy Lim: So further support is also available on our VEU website.

Mindy Lim: And on the application guide for accredited persons.

[Slide outlining evidence and record keeping requirements for compliance, auditing and certificate creation]

Mindy Lim: Next slide, please.

Mindy Lim: And in terms of important record keeping requirements, these records here are requested as part of our VICMIN assessment process.

Mindy Lim: There are a list of photos, evidence in compliance with program requirements on that particular slide there.

Mindy Lim: Next slide, please, Owen.

[Slide outlining key evidence requirements for compliance and certificate creation]

Mindy Lim: And I just wanted to call out some important and key requirements here too.

Mindy Lim: So, a copy of the completed electrical safety assessment form by the electrician, copies of installer safety assessment form by the installer, the certificate of electrical safety, of course, where Electrical rectification work was carried out prior to installation being installed.

Mindy Lim: And geotagged video footage evidencing both the pre-installation and post-installation environment.

Mindy Lim: A diagram or a floor plan evidencing the installed area and the products installed.

Mindy Lim: Yeah, there is quite a fair bit of information to take in there.

Mindy Lim: So, there is a ceiling Insulation activity guide if you need further sort of reference material.

Mindy Lim: And next slide, please.

Mindy Lim: Well, that brings me to the end of my presentation.

Mindy Lim: Thank you for your interest in the webinar and I do hope you found this session useful.