Changes to lighting activities, electricity emission factors and the VEEC creation form for weather sealing from 1 February 2023

31 January 2023

Changes to lighting activities 

The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (the Department) has released the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) Specifications 2018 - Version 14.0 which come into effect from Wednesday, 1 February 2023. Changes to the specifications include:

• removal of the incandescent lighting activity (activity 21) from the program.
• removal of mercury vapour lamps from the public lighting upgrade activity (activity 27) and non-building based lighting upgrade activity (activity 35).
• revision to eligible lamp upgrades and incentives for building based lighting upgrade (activity 34) including:
  • removal of incentives to upgrade LED lamps with more efficient LED lamps.
  • removal of incentives for many types of lamp upgrades including metal halide, high-pressure sodium, mercury vapour and induction lamps. Linear and circular fluorescent lamp upgrades (T5, T8, T12) and compact fluorescent lamp (CFL lamps) with non-integral ballast upgrades will remain eligible.     
  • reducing the lamp asset lifetime for “modification” upgrade condition from 5 years to 4 years.
  • reducing the lamp asset lifetime for “retrofit” and “any other case” upgrades condition from a maximum of 5 years to a maximum of 4 years.

Updated documents and VEU registry system

We have updated the VEU registry system and the following documents to reflect the above lighting changes:

• Building Based Lighting Upgrades Activity Guide
• Public Lighting Upgrades Activity Guide
• Non-Building Based Lighting Upgrades Activity Guide
• Lighting Product Application Guide
• Obligations and Program Guide for Accredited Persons

Changes to electricity emissions factor

From 1 February 2023, the program’s electricity emissions factor (EEF) will be reduced from:

• 0.516 to 0.473 for the commercial and industrial air source heat pump water heaters activity (activity 44).
• 0.8142 to 0.6738 for all other activities. 

This annual reduction in the program’s electricity emissions factor reflects the increase of renewable energy in Victoria’s energy supply over time.  

Changes to the VEEC creation form for weather sealing (activity 15)

We have received some stakeholder feedback on our guidance update for accredited persons and scheme participants undertaking weather sealing activities under the VEU program.

We are in the process of considering the feedback. In the interim, we have made changes to the new VEEC creation form field of: "Does premises have flueless/open-flue gas space heater?". Accredited persons will be able to select from three entry options for this field when completing VEEC creations for weather sealing activities carried out from 1 February 2023:

• Yes
• No
• Unsure

Where to get help

If you have any questions about this update, please contact VEU support team by calling (03) 9032 1310, or email veu@esc.vic.gov.au.