VEU 6 / ESS D16: Air Conditioning [VEEC, ESC]
Enter a postcode, a brand and a model. The tool assesses that registration under the Victorian Energy Upgrades and the NSW Energy Savings Scheme, returns the certificates it earns in each, and shows the regulated lookup tables it read with the matched row highlighted.
Each registration is assessed on its own figures. Two units of the same nominal capacity routinely land on opposite sides of an eligibility threshold, and the two schemes read different columns off the same GEMS record.
111 brands on the GEMS Registry under the 2019 determination.
Part 6 has eleven scenarios and they do not pay the same. Replacing a gas heater and replacing a reverse cycle unit are different baselines.
EnergyAE reference VEEC price, reviewed 2026-07-07 (live market feed unavailable). Edit to model a different price.
EnergyAE reference ESC price, reviewed 2026-07-07 (live market feed unavailable). Edit to model a different price.
Running on a GEMS Registry export of 5,922 registrations under the GEMS (Air Conditioners up to 65kW) Determination 2019, as at 2026-09-01. Estimates only, not a certificate entitlement: certificates are created by an accredited provider against the installation as built, and both schemes carry documentary requirements the register cannot evidence.
The four rules the calculator applies
These are the ones we see people get wrong, in scheme submissions as well as in marketing copy. The calculator applies all four and says which one failed the product.
Victoria assesses every product on the cold climate zone, whatever the postcode
The Victorian rules (VEU Part 6) test the heating and cooling seasonal efficiency figures on the GEMS registration, HSPF and TCSPF, for the cold climate zone, for every product category and every Victorian postcode. The NSW rules (ESS Activity D16) use the mixed zone figures for their hot and average zones. Carrying a mixed zone figure across to a Victorian assessment makes a product look comfortably eligible when it is not, and that mistake has cost real submissions.
A seasonal figure that is on the register and below the minimum is a fail
Both schemes allow a fallback test on the rated figures (AEER for cooling, ACOP for heating), and both allow it only where the register carries no seasonal figure at all. A TCSPF that is recorded and below the minimum is a fail; it does not open the fallback. The VEU version narrows further: it closed on 1 August 2024 for new registrations.
Below 15 kW, the refrigerant alone can rule a product out
A VEU product under 15 kW rated cooling needs a refrigerant with a global warming potential (GWP) under 700. R32 sits at 675 and passes. R410A sits at 2088 and does not, whatever the unit does on efficiency.
Minimum customer co-payments change on 30 September 2026
The co-payment is the minimum a customer must pay towards the job themselves before certificates can be created. In Victoria it changes that day: $3,000 including GST for any ducted product and for a multi-split at or above 10 kW. New South Wales requires $200 excluding GST per item. For a ducted range, the two states now ask very different things of the customer.
Where the tables come from
The Victorian side runs Part 6 of the Victorian Energy Upgrades Specifications 2018, version 25.0, checked against the Essential Services Commission's product application guide, whose Table 3 agrees with Specifications Table 6.3 cell for cell. The New South Wales side runs Activity Definition D16 of the Energy Savings Scheme Rule of 2009 as it stood on 12 September 2025, with Schedule A Tables A24 and A27.
Scheme methods change, and both of these have changed twice in the last two years. We track them because we lodge under them.
The multi-split certificate cap
The multi-split certificate cap that took effect on 1 July 2026 is stated in the HEER Method Guide and footnoted to clause 9.8.7 of the ESS Rule. That clause is not in the version of the Rule this calculator is transcribed from, so the cap reaches us through a summary rather than through the law. The tool applies it and says on screen that it has, along with the figure before the cap.
We handle every gap of that kind the same way, which is why the calculation is shown on the page.
Your model is not clearing and you think it should
An assessment turns on the seasonal figures carried on the GEMS registration, and a product can fail on a zone or a refrigerant rule rather than on how it performs. We work through those with manufacturers and importers before a scheme application goes in.
Request a quoteYou want this for your own range
The same assessment, scoped to your models, sized on the building, costed against the system it replaces and embedded on your own site. That is a build for your brand, and it is a service we offer.
Air conditioning calculators for HVAC brands →Figures are estimates from the published scheme methods applied to public GEMS Registry data, and are not a certificate entitlement, a quote or a specification. Certificates are created by an accredited provider against the installation as built, and both schemes carry documentary and implementation requirements that a product register cannot evidence.