Learn about some of the key obligations for a scheme participant under the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program
Scheme participants
Scheme participants under the VEU program are persons (other than an accredited person) who undertake:
- a VEU activity, or any part of a part of a VEU activity on behalf on an accredited person, or
- any regulated action in respect of a VEU activity. Regulated actions include lead generation and marketing, entering into a contract for sale or supply of an activity, undertaking a VEU activity or any part of a VEU activity and any follow up action that relates to a VEU activity.
Complying with the Australian Consumer Law and the code of conduct
Scheme participants must comply with the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) when engaging in marketing practices (including telemarketing, doorknocking and advertising) under the program.
Scheme participants must also comply with the VEU code of conduct which establishes a standard for accredited persons and scheme participants when delivering upgrades to Victorian consumers under the program.
Failure to comply with the VEU code of conduct is a breach of a civil penalty requirement that may lead to penalty notices being issued to scheme participants.
Complying with requirements set under relevant legislation
Scheme participants must ensure that activities are undertaken in accordance with the requirements set out in the program rules and the following Acts and regulations under these Acts:
- Electricity Safety Act 1998 (Vic)
- Gas Safety Act 1997 (Vic)
- Building Act 1993 (Vic)
- Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic)
- Environmental Protection Act 2017 (Vic)
- Ozone Protection, Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989 (Cth).
There are rules about the changes tenants can make to a property. They will often need permission from the landlord. Scheme participants should advise tenants to take steps to ensure that any proposed activity is consistent with their tenancy agreement.
Complying with training and competency requirements
Scheme participants must not undertake a prescribed activity, or part of a prescribed activity, or regulated action unless the:
- scheme participant has complied with training and competency requirements specified by the commission in the VEET Guidelines.
- provided evidence of that compliance to the accredited person
Scheme participants must also not provide false or misleading information to an accredited person in respect of evidence of their training and competency.
Scheme participants may also be required to provide evidence of their training and competency to the commission when requested by the commission to do so.
Complying with improvement notices and prohibition notices
The commission may issue:
- an improvement notice to a scheme participant to remedy appliances, equipment or services that have or are likely to cause harm to human health, safety or damage to property.
- a prohibition notice to a scheme participant to prohibit a person undertaking VEU activities or regulated actions if they have breached the program rules and have or are likely to cause harm to human health or safety, or damage to property.
Scheme participants must comply with these notices. Non-compliance with a notice is a breach of a civil penalty requirement that may lead to penalty notices being issued to scheme participants.
Provision of false or misleading information
A person (including scheme participants) must not give information or provide a document to the commission that is false or misleading in a material particular, even where the person does not know the information is false or misleading.
Failure to comply with this is a breach of a civil penalty requirement that may lead to penalty notices being issued against the person by the commission.