Terms and conditions
for Energy Efficiency for Small Business Program

The following updated Terms and Conditions apply to the NSW Government's Energy Efficiency for Small Business Program. Please read them carefully before signing or completing the Registration Form.

The Energy Efficiency for Small Business Program ends on 31 December 2012. See clause 10.1.

1 Defined Terms

In these terms and conditions the following words have these meanings:

• 1.1 OEH means the Office of Environment and Heritage.
• 1.2 Energy Action Plan is a plan setting out the recommended ways for your business to improve its energy efficiency, prepared by an OEH assessor.
• 1.3 Energy efficiency measures are recommendations or actions that improve energy consumption or efficiency of energy in equipment listed in 6.3.
• 1.4 Program is the NSW Government's Energy Efficiency for Small Business Program.
• 1.5 Subsidy Payment has the meaning set out in clause 6.6.
• 1.6 You means the business owner participating in the Program and signing this Registration Form.
• 1.7 ACP means Accredited Certificate Provider under the NSW Energy Savings Scheme (ESS), administered by IPART.
• 1.8 IPART means Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal. IPART administers and regulates the Energy Savings Scheme (ESS). IPART accredits ACP's who may create and register ESCs under the Energy Savings Scheme Rule.
• 1.9 ESC means Energy Saving Certificate. An ESC represents one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent or about 1MWh of energy savings from increased efficiency of electricity use or reduction in electricity consumption where there is no negative effect on production or service levels.
  
  You may nominate an ACP to register the energy savings from installing energy efficiency measures and to claim ESCs on your behalf. Where those measures are due to the Program, only savings from your Financial contribution can be registered for ESC creation with IPART's Registry.
  
  Example, energy savings resulting from an EESBP lighting project = 9.44MWh. This converts to approximately 10 tonnes of carbon pollution (10 ESC). If your contribution = 50%, you/your ACP can claim 5 ESCs. Energy savings generated from the OEH Subsidy Payment cannot be registered with IPART and used to claim ESC by you or your ACP. Businesses or ACP's who claim ESCs for the OEH Subsidy Payment will be in breach of these Terms and Conditions. See clause 9.1.

2 Eligibility to apply for the Program

• 2.1 To be eligible for the Program, you must:
  • 2.1.1 be an owner of a business operating in NSW with electricity bills of up to about $20,000 per year (inc. GST) or employ up to about 10 full time staff
  • 2.1.2 be committed to undertaking an energy efficiency assessment (coordinated by OEH or its appointed agent)
  • 2.1.3 be committed to implementing the no cost energy efficiency measures listed in your Energy Action Plan that are consistent with your business objectives.

3 Registration

• 3.1 This Registration form must be completed in full and submitted to OEH by 31 December 2012.
• 3.2 The Registration form will be verified by OEH and may be returned to you if incomplete.

4 Assessment

• 4.1 At the time of your energy efficiency assessment you must provide copies of your electricity bills for 12 months prior to the assessment.
• 4.2 Your business must contribute 25% of the cost of the assessment. This will be: $75 (inc. GST) per site assessed if using less than $5,000 (inc. GST) of electricity a year; $150 (inc. GST) per site assessed if using between $5,000 (inc. GST) and $20,000 (inc. GST) of electricity a year.
• 4.3 Your contribution to the assessment must be paid to the assessor, at the time of your assessment, or upon receipt of your Action Plan.
• 4.4 If the assessor determines prior to the completion of the assessment that your business has no or very few energy efficiency opportunities, no assessment will take place and there will be no cost to you.
• 4.5 Where no energy efficiency measures eligible for a Subsidy Payment are identified from the energy efficiency assessment your contribution to the assessment under clause 4.2 will be refunded, less a $50 administration fee.
• 4.6 Following the completion of your business energy assessment you will be provided with an Energy Action Plan. See clause 10.1.

5 Authorisations

• 5.1 If requested by you, the assessor will obtain quotes for agreed energy efficiency measures on your behalf.
• 5.2 To proceed with any of the agreed energy efficiency measures in your Energy Action Plan:
  • 5.2.1 You must sign an Authorisation to retrofit for the agreed items in your Energy Action Plan. The assessor will then coordinate installation on your behalf.
• 5.3 On completion of the installation you and each tradesperson(s)/service provider(s) must sign Form 2/3 - Installation complete (provided by the assessor) for each item.
• 5.4 To apply for the Subsidy Payment (see clause 10.1), within 7-14 days of installation, you must submit to the assessor:
  • a. original quote(s) for the energy efficiency measures installed
  • b. Form 1 – Authorisation to retrofit
  • c. original invoice(s) for the energy efficiency measures installed
  • d. proof of payment/receipt(s) indicating date and payment of the cost of purchase and installation of energy efficiency measures. The receipt(s) must be in your business name and state the address of the premises where the measures were installed
  • e. signed original of Form 2/3 – Authorisation to pay.

6 Eligibility for subsidised costs

• 6.1 To be eligible for the Subsidy Payment for energy efficiency measures you must:
  • 6.1.1 engage your assessor as per 5.2.1
  • 6.1.2 be an owner of a business operating in NSW, which:
    • a. is registered in the Program; and
    • b. has undertaken an energy efficiency assessment (coordinated by OEH or its appointed agent), received an Energy Action Plan, have agreed to the installation of some or all of the recommended energy efficiency measures and paid for your share of the cost of the installation. Preference should be given to actions in order of priority listed in the Energy Action Plan.
• 6.2 Payment made by you for your share of the cost of purchase and installation of the energy efficiency measures must be a monetary payment. Payment made by you for your share of the cost of purchase and installation of the energy efficiency measures cannot include a payment in kind.
• 6.3Energy efficiency measures are measures limited to the following:
  • lighting¹, including skylights
  • heating, ventilation and air-conditioning²
  • electric motors¹
  • air compressors
  • commercial refrigeration¹
  • boilers
  • insulation³
  • hot water systems⁴.
• 6.4 Subject to clause 6.5, only energy efficiency measures set out in 6.3 are eligible for the Subsidy Payment, unless otherwise agreed with OEH.
• 6.5 The energy efficiency measures will not be eligible for the Subsidy Payment if:
  • 6.5.1 You have received any other funding, rebates or incentives from other programs available through OEH or other funding bodies in respect of that energy efficiency measure;
  • 6.5.2 the energy efficiency measure was not installed by a licensed tradesperson(s) where required by law
  • 6.5.3 the energy efficiency measure is used for domestic or household purposes
  • 6.5.4 the energy efficiency measure does not meet all applicable standards, approvals and local government requirements.
• 6.6The Subsidy Payment is a payment by OEH on your behalf of 50% of the total cost of the energy efficiency measures you have installed from your Energy Action Plan to a maximum of:
  • a. $2,000 for businesses with electricity bills of less than $5,000 (inc. GST) a year; or
  • b. $5,000 for businesses with electricity bills of $5,000–$20,000 (inc. GST) a year.

7 Research and evaluation

• 7.1 OEH may contact you to seek your participation in OEH research relating to energy efficiency in small and medium sized businesses.

8 Feedback and publicity

• 8.1 OEH may contact you for feedback on the Program and may, with your permission, publicise your involvement in the Program.

9 Refund of subsidised costs

• 9.1 In the event that you are found to have acted in breach of any of these terms and conditions you will be required to repay the Subsidy Payment to OEH.

10 Program changes and duration

• 10.1To obtain the full benefit of the Program (up to $5,000* for energy efficiency upgrades) eligible businesses** need to register before the 31 December 2012. You must implement changes recommended in your Energy Action Plan and submit subsidy applications (forms 1, 2 and 3) to OEH by 2 April 2013.
•  *  Refer to clause 6.6.
  ** Businesses who registered between the 1 July 2012 and 31 December 2012.

11 Liability

• 11.1 You acknowledge and agree that OEH is not responsible for the work done by tradespersons appointed to undertake work in connection with the Program. Any person engaged to undertake any work on your premises is engaged by you and you are responsible for taking all reasonable precautions in choosing and engaging such tradespersons.
• 11.2 You acknowledge and agree that as far as the law permits, OEH (and its successors) accepts no liability in respect to any claim, cause of action or loss or damage arising out of, or in relation to an energy efficiency assessment or installation of energy efficiency items recommended in the Energy Action Plan, including but not limited to energy efficiency measures subject to the Subsidy Payment.
• 11.3 You release OEH from any claim or liability arising out of, or in relation to, the energy efficiency assessment or installation of energy efficiency measures in connection with the energy efficiency assessment to the extent that the claim or liability is not caused by OEH's negligence or breach of these terms and conditions or any other term implied by law.

12 OEH subsidy payment

• 12.1 Payment by OEH of the Subsidy Payment will be made on your behalf directly to the tradesperson(s)/service provider(s) within 28 days of receipt of the signed and dated Form 2/3 - Installation complete and all associated materials in accordance with clause 5.4. Where payment is made to you, the cheque will be made payable to the trading name of the business and sent to the business owner, as identified in Form 1 – Authorisation to retrofit.

13 Recognition

• 13.1 After payment of the Subsidy Payment you will receive a Certificate of Participation which recognises your efforts to reduce electricity use and carbon pollution.
• 13.2 Original receipts or invoices will be returned to you with a letter confirming payment.

14 Privacy notice

• 14.1 OEH collects and manages the personal information you provide in accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998. Information collected by OEH may be disclosed to other NSW government agencies and/or the relevant local council, energy utility or industry association.

Terms updated: December 2012