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.
Assessment is per registration, not per size band. 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.
Four rules that decide most answers
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 bit.
VEU assesses on the cold zone, whatever the postcode
Part 6 tests HSPF and TCSPF on the GEMS cold zone for every category and every Victorian postcode. The ESS tests the mixed zone in its 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 recorded value below the minimum is a fail
Both schemes offer a rated AEER and ACOP alternative, and both open it only where the register carries no seasonal figure at all. A TCSPF that is recorded and low closes the door rather than opening the alternative. The VEU version narrows further: it closed on 1 August 2024 for new registrations.
Refrigerant decides eligibility below 15 kW
A VEU product under 15 kW rated cooling needs a refrigerant with a GWP under 700. R32 sits at 675 and clears it. R410A sits at 2088 and does not, whatever the unit does on efficiency. That single rule removes a large slice of the register.
The 30 September 2026 co-payment step is large
Victorian minimum consumer co-payments move 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.
One caveat we will not paper over
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.
That is how we would rather handle every gap of that kind, and it is why the working is on the page. A number you cannot audit is a number you cannot defend when a customer asks.
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 incumbent and embedded on your own site. That is a build rather than a public tool, 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.