[VIC Only] State Government Rebate for Buying Energy Efficient Appliances

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spendinghacker on 23/02/2016 - 17:52 energyincentive.com.au (920 clicks)
Last edited 23/02/2016 - 18:14 by 1 other user

if you live in Victoria, you could get a cash rebate on some home appliances. This cash rebate is facilitated through the Victorian state government's Energy Efficiency Target (VEET) scheme.

Like most government schemes, this one is also a bit complicated to understand but in very simple terms, the state government provides incentives to make your home or business more energy efficient.

The rebate is not provided directly by the government but through accredited organisations who create what's called Victorian energy efficiency certificates (VEECs) based on various measures you undertake to make your home more energy efficient (such as buying energy efficient appliances).

These VEECs are then traded between the accredited organisations in a stockmarket-like open marketplace.

The bulk of the value of the VEECs generated from each individual activity is paid out to consumers in the form of a cash rebate while the accredited organisation keeps the rest to themselves to cover their operating costs and to generate a profit (as most of these accredited organisations operate on a for-profit basis).

If you're feeling a bit confused now, hopefully this explanation directly from the 'horse's mouth' (i.e. the Victorian state government) will help you understand how this scheme works.

One such accredited organisation is Zero Carbon Group and if you're considering taking part in the VEET scheme, you could consider doing so through them.

This is for the following reasons:

• They have a very efficient online-based claiming system which saves you time and saves them on operating expenses. This means they can pay market leading rates on VEECs.
• They will pay you slightly more in rebates compared to what they will pay their other customers if you use the above mentioned promo code.

If you enter the referral code SPENDINGHACKER at the applicable field in the online claiming form, you'll get an extra $6 on top of whatever rebate you will normally be entitled to through them.

While that may seem as 'pocket change' to you, this is around 6% bonus on TVs and a lot more on things like fridges and clothes dryers as the indicative list of rebates shows.

How does the scheme work?

• You buy an electricity-efficient appliance from a government pre-approved list.

• You submit your VEEC claim to Zero Carbon Group through their website (use the SPENDINGHACKER referral code for the bonus cashback).

• You get paid your rebate directly to your bank account. Most claims take 3-4 weeks to process.

FAIR DISCLOSURE: If you use the referral code SPENDINGHACKER, we'll be paid a small commission for every successful claim made. If that bothers you, feel free to not use the referral code but you will not get the $6 bonus. Up to you :)

Mod Edit: Referral code removed from coupon code section. See guidelines on referrals.

Related Stores

energyincentive.com.au

• 

  Olokun on 23/02/2016 - 17:55

  +23

  Can't wait for this program to be scrapped.. Essentially I am paying tax so I can get a % of it back so a 3rd party can make a buck.

  • 

    spendinghacker on 23/02/2016 - 18:03

    +3

    I'm curious to know:

    Is the state government actually funding those rebates or are they created on the free market through the trading of VEECs between accredited organisations?

    My understanding (and I am not 100% certain on that as I don't live in Victoria) is that the state government is administering the scheme but is not funding it.

    Instead, the rebates are funded through the private sector by trading on an open marketplace kinda like how the proposed emissions trading scheme was supposed to work on a federal level.

    As I said, I could be completely wrong with my understanding and if so, more than happy to be corrected (and would greatly appreciate that actually…:) ).

    • 

      CoronavirusVaccine on 23/02/2016 - 18:12

      +5

      The consumers of electricity pay for these subsidies at the end of the day.

      The electricity retailers are obliged to give these VEECs to the government, the quantity is directly linked to how much electricity they've sold to the end consumers. The retailers buy these VEECs from 3rd parties who have created VEECs through undertaking energy efficiency measures. But you can be sure that the retailers billing rates have these additional costs built in so as to pass the cost to the consumers.

      The scheme is very annoying. If you don't take advantage of it then you're paying for someone else who does. However throughout the lifecycle the 3rd party companies who promises to help you to do these environmentally friendly things take a big cut along the way. Basically it motivates people to do something so that they reap some of the benefits while all the other people who didn't know about it would subsidise those who did.

      Without these schemes the society as a whole would have saved from paying for these 3rd party companies' profit and operating costs.

      • 

        spendinghacker on 24/02/2016 - 10:49

        The electricity retailers are obliged to give these VEECs to the government, the quantity is directly linked to how much electricity they've sold to the end consumers

        That's interesting!

        Does that mean that the providers with the smaller overall market share in Victoria will have better prices because they sold less electricity and therefore liable for less VEECs (which they have to procure on the open marketplace from those who create them)?

        What is the surcharge (a.k.a 'tax') electricity retailers are liable for if they don't have enough VEECs to surrender to correspond with the overall amount of Kwh they sold to Victorians?

      • 

        CoronavirusVaccine on 01/03/2016 - 18:31

        @ginmi:

        Generally no, the smaller providers cannot offer better prices. The number of VEECs liable is proportional to the quantity electricity (and gas) the retailers have sold to the end retail customers. Unless the retailer has less than 5,000 customers which will make them exempt.

        The technical term for the surcharge is "shortfall penalty". In year 2015 the rate $45 per certificate (CPI indexed), which is equivalent to about $6.2/KWh. It's a substantial portion of your energy usage rate but it's hidden and buried in there so that they don't get political pushback by the average Joe Citizen.

    • 

      llama on 23/02/2016 - 18:13

      +1

      Is the state government actually funding those rebates or are they created on the free market through the trading of VEECs between accredited organisations?

      Free market trading. Government cost is only to administer.

      As I said, I could be completely wrong with my understanding

      No, you are 100% correct.

      However Olokun is also correct… the Government applies a policy where the Supply Retailers are charged a "premium" unless they surrender a certain number of certificates.

      The "tax" on energy consumers is indirect, but in the end it's funded by those who use the energy. The bottom line is that consumers who are smart enough to take advantage of the scheme benefit from it, whilst those who don't take advantage of it are funding it.

      • 

        spendinghacker on 24/02/2016 - 10:50

        @llama

        What is the premium electricity retailers are liable for if they don't have enough VEECs to surrender to correspond with the overall amount of Kwh they sold to Victorians?

      • 

        llama on 24/02/2016 - 20:56

        +1

        @ginmi:

        From https://www.veet.vic.gov.au/public/Public.aspx?id=EnergyReta…

        Shortfall penalty

        Pursuant to section 28(1) of the VEET Act, a Relevant Entity which has an energy efficiency shortfall in a given compliance year is liable to pay a pecuniary penalty to the Consolidated fund in the form of a shortfall penalty. The shortfall penalty is determined in accordance with section 28(2) of the VEET Act. The shortfall penalty rate for the 2015 compliance year is subject to a CPI calculation and is $45.44 per certificate.

        A certificate is the abatement of a Tonne of CO2 equivalent, close enough to 1000 kWh.

        Really rough numbers follow…

        At an average retail rate of (say) 25c per kWh, that means the retailer must save $250 worth of energy or pay $45 penalty.

        It's much easier for them to sell the $250 worth of power (at a profit) then pay (say) $30-40 for a certificate from somebody else.

        Scheme target for 2016 is 5.4 million certificates. They are trading at between $15-25 each (nett after fees) at the moment, let's say $20 average to the creator. So that means the "industry" is fighting to generate $108 million worth of them.

        There's good money in some activities, far less in others. The 'scheme chasers' go where the money can be made as quickly and easily as possible. The compliance requirements can be overwhelming however, so it's not as easy as it sounds.

      • 

        spendinghacker on 24/02/2016 - 21:12

        @llama:

        Thanks mate. Really appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

    • 

      Olokun on 23/02/2016 - 18:20

      +4

      Through tax or through higher prices. At the end of the day the customer pays for it. It's not free money out of thin air.

  • 

    effgee on 23/02/2016 - 22:28

    100%

    The trick is that those 3rd parties make big donations to political parties, or are personal friends or the pollies have vested interests.

• 

  tgame on 23/02/2016 - 18:13

  $15 on the $600 purchase…. too little, the gst is more than this

  • 

    regenade on 23/02/2016 - 18:25

    Look here to get all the money you deserve

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/160715#comment-2235210

  • 

    llama on 23/02/2016 - 19:47

    $15 on the $600 purchase

    If you want a better "rebate", simply buy a more energy efficient product for your $600.

    The whole idea of these schemes is to encourage you to choose products that use less energy, so the "reward" increases proportionally based on reduction of energy consumption.

    So you won't get good value if you buy the cheapest crap you can find, then afterwards make a claim for a rebate.

    I've never agreed with the concept of a rebate for buying an "additional" TV.

• 

  regenade on 23/02/2016 - 18:25

  +3

  50% of the VEET rebate actually applicable is gobbled by the middle man here, rep can you see how Cashrewards and other reward sharing sites work, at least make the rebate to around 70-75% to what you guys claim from VEET. You are gobbling almost 50% here, thats way too high!

  People look at this link for the DIY way :
  https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/160715#comment-2235210

  Damn if somehow I could edit your site homepage and post this link in disclaimer, so that people are not scammed by your 50% Admin costs :P

  • 

    spendinghacker on 24/02/2016 - 10:55

    It seems like it's only about 13% based on the example by nmachine below.

    Are you familiar with any provider, based on your extensive (and very impressive if I might add) research which works on a margin lower than that?

    • 

      regenade on 25/02/2016 - 02:58

      +1

      The rort of 13% is just for the no of VECCs. So my appliance having 7 VEECs as per VEET website is worth 6.6 on this website and the money I am getting translates to less than $10 a VEEC, where as market rate is $18.

      So the difference is around instead of getting $18 X 7 = $ 126, I am being paid $65. So now you know how I was talking about 50%. Also the VEECs can be even traded later at higer rates !

      Damn thinking about this , I think I should just build a site like this and take advantage of this gold mine.

      • 

        spendinghacker on 25/02/2016 - 09:51

        Got it. Thanks for explaining.

        Are you familiar with any provider who works on lower margins?

        Ta

      • 

        regenade on 25/02/2016 - 11:12

        @ginmi:No I m not quite aware of many providers doing it online this way, but point is if you have couple of hours, you can do it all by yourself.

• 

  llama on 23/02/2016 - 18:43

  +2

  Effectively, this thread is SPAM.

  The VEET scheme has been in place for many years, and what's described here is absolutely nothing new or special.

  The VEET website is not working properly for me at the moment, so I cannot check the company's accreditation, nor how much commission they are taking for the certificates generated.

• 

  PlasticSpaceman on 23/02/2016 - 18:44

  +2

  Replaced all my halogens with LEDs for free under the VEET scheme - was great. Looked at this for the new tv I got recently, but no tvs have been added to the list for a year or so…. most of the tvs on the approved list I suspect can no longer be purchased. I'd heard this was going to be scrapped - is this no longer the case and maybe new tvs are going to be added to the list sometime? [hope, hope]

  • 

    llama on 23/02/2016 - 19:41

    +2

    I'd heard this was going to be scrapped - is this no longer the case

    It's been extended (state election promises) and targets are set for 2016 until 2020.

    maybe new tvs are going to be added to the list sometime? [hope, hope]

    TVs are fairly easy, just needs somebody to make application. Product needs to registered for MEPS with 5.5 Stars and energy rating label of not more than 450kWh per year

    Last approval I can see is September last year. Not sure why more aren't added, but I am working in a different sector (not appliances).

    • 

      PlasticSpaceman on 23/02/2016 - 22:40

      Thanks for the info. Fingers crossed. ;-)

• 

  King Steuart on 23/02/2016 - 18:57

  I don't understand how $6 is 6% of a tv

  • 

    spendinghacker on 23/02/2016 - 19:24

    $6 is a 6% bonus on the $100
    rebate for some TV models

    For other appliances, the rebate is only $20 so a $6 bonus is a bonus of 30%.

• 

  Kayeff Sea on 24/02/2016 - 08:27

  These government subsidised schemes are one of the biggest rorts ever. Now we have the illusion of saving money…YAY! Businesses must live these schemes, an absolute gold mine for them

• 

  nmachine on 24/02/2016 - 09:21

  I get $15 back from a $650, 3.5 star fridge I bought only 4 months ago. Yes I guess it's $15 I wouldn't have otherwise, but hardly seems worth it or a reasonable incentive.

  • 

    nmachine on 24/02/2016 - 09:39

    Also to follow up the government site says I'm eligible for 2 VEECs, yet energyincentive.com.au says only 1.74, why the disparity?

    • 

      spendinghacker on 24/02/2016 - 10:07

      I'd say that this is because the balance is the profit margin this mob keeps to themselves to make a buck and 'keep the lights on'.

      87% paid out and 13% kept is a pretty reasonable distribution IMHO.

      What do others think?

      Is anyone familiar with a provider that works on lower margins (I.E pays out more than 87%)?

• 

  javajo on 24/02/2016 - 09:51

  I recently upgraded my reverse cycle AC unit. These use heaps of power compared to TV's but there is no rebate for them (that I can see or find). I think it's a bit misguided not to have these incorporated in the scheme (feel free to point me in the right direction if they are). To clarify: I think central ducted systems are but not reverse cycle single head units. Also The price of larger reverse cycle AC units can be up there and price tends to be more of a concern than efficiency for those making a purchase. I don't think a rebate will guide you to a particular TV but it may guide you to a more efficient AC unit….

  edit: Fixed Typo

  • 

    llama on 24/02/2016 - 21:03

    I don't think a rebate will guide you to a particular TV but it may guide you to a more efficient AC unit

    The scheme is not interested in encouraging more A/Cs to be installed - that is the product that causes the most problems in the first place.

    I have no idea why they give VEECs for TVs and other appliances where there is no requirement to destroy the old one.

    Here's all the activities on one page

    https://www.veet.vic.gov.au/Public/Public.aspx?id=VEETActivi…

• 

  kusama on 24/02/2016 - 13:22

  Missed out by 3 months. Not sure if it applies to all appliances:
  Energy Incentive for this appliance is only available for when the product is purchased on or after 22/09/2015

  • 

    llama on 24/02/2016 - 21:05

    +1

    Missed out by 3 months. Not sure if it applies to all appliances:

    You cannot claim a rebate on a product or service that was purchased before it was allowed under the scheme. For the products and activities that I am involved in, the product application must pre-date the activity - if it's the same in other sectors, that would mean that whatever you purchased must have only been applied for on 22/09/2015.

    Remember, the idea is to DRIVE your decision to purchase a more efficient product, not to pay you (after the fact) for making a decision that you already would have made anyway. Make sense?

    • 

      kusama on 26/02/2016 - 16:51

      $15-$50 won't drive most people. Some of the TV incentives might sway someone but they will still be going on the best deal they can get.

      • 

        llama on 26/02/2016 - 22:12

        The incentive is supposed to be offered by the retailer at point of sale. That is where it would have the most impact, but the retailers are too stupid to jump on board.

        Now there's an opportunity for the OP and his mate… swing a deal with Bing Lee, Good Guys, etc. :-)