Certificate of electrical safety deadlines in Victoria

A certificate of electrical safety sitting in the ute six weeks after the job is not a bit of paperwork running late. In Victoria it is a deadline in the Electricity Safety Act 1998 with a penalty on it, and the clock starts earlier than most people think: at the last termination, not at the invoice.

There are two certificates and two clocks. The first belongs to whoever did the work. The second belongs to whoever is responsible for it, and those are not always the same person.

Clock one: the certificate of compliance

A licensed electrical installation worker who carries out electrical installation work must, within 4 business days after the completion of that work: (a) complete and sign a certificate of compliance in respect of that work; and (b) if the worker is not the person responsible for the carrying out of the work, give to the person who is responsible for the carrying out of the work a signed certificate of compliance in respect of that work. Penalty: 60 penalty units.

Paragraph (b) is the one that catches subcontractors. A sparky working under somebody else's registration has four business days to get a signed certificate of compliance into the responsible person's hands, not just into their own glovebox.

Clock two: the certificate of electrical safety

The person who is responsible for the carrying out of electrical installation work must in accordance with this section: (a) ensure that a certificate of electrical safety is completed in respect of that work; and (b) within the required time: (i) give the completed certificate of electrical safety in respect of that work to the person for whom the work was carried out; and (ii) give a copy of that certificate to Energy Safe Victoria. Penalty: 60 penalty units.

Section 45A(2) says what the COES is made of: "a certificate of compliance completed under section 44 for the installation work by the licensed electrical installation worker who carried out the work" and, for prescribed work, "a certificate of inspection of the installation work completed under section 45 by a licensed electrical inspector". So the second clock cannot finish before the first one has.

The certificate of electrical safety deadline for each kind of work

Section 45A(6) sets "the required time" three ways. Which one applies depends on whether the work is prescribed, and on whether it sits under a periodic certificate.

Prescribed work

in the case of prescribed electrical installation work, is 4 business days after the certificate of inspection of that work is given under section 45(3)

The inspector has a clock of their own. Section 45(3) says a licensed electrical inspector "must within 4 business days after the completion of that inspection, give to the person who is responsible for the carrying out of the work a signed certificate of inspection". Which work is prescribed is set by the regulations, so check the list rather than assuming a job is outside it.

Work under a periodic certificate

Section 45A(5) allows one certificate to cover "all electrical installation work (other than prescribed electrical installation work) for which a person is responsible that is carried out within a period of 3 months". Under section 45A(6)(b), the required time for that certificate is "4 business days after the end of the period of 3 months to which the certificate relates". The last day of that three month period, which need not line up with a calendar quarter, is the date to diarise.

Everything else

in the case of any other electrical installation work is one month after the certificate of compliance for that work is completed under section 44(2)

The form has to be the right one

A document is not a certificate of electrical safety unless the certificate form used is a form that has been supplied by Energy Safe Victoria or a person authorised by Energy Safe Victoria.

Section 45A(3) goes further: the responsible person must not give a certificate "unless the certificate form used is a certificate form supplied to that person under section 45B". Borrowing a page from a mate's paper COES book because yours is in the other ute does not produce a certificate. Energy Safe Victoria says electronic certificates are bought and lodged through ESVConnect.

Where certificates actually go missing

• The job is invoiced and closed on the day, and the COES is left for the weekend.
• A subcontractor signs the certificate of compliance and keeps it until they invoice.
• The inspection on prescribed work is booked, done, and the certificate of inspection sits in an email nobody opened.
• A periodic certificate's three months end in the middle of a busy week.

Close the job on the certificate, not on the invoice

Treat a job as open until the COES number is recorded against it. A finished job with no number is a job still in progress, and it should show up on somebody's list.

Set two dates when the work finishes: four business days for the certificate of compliance, and the COES deadline that applies to that kind of work. Count business days, so a public holiday pushes the first date out rather than surprising you.

For subcontractors, make the signed certificate of compliance a condition of paying their invoice. It moves the paperwork to the front of their week instead of the back.

In Diract, a task on the job with a due date, an assignee and a reminder set a few days before does the chasing, and the assignee gets it in the Tasks due email on the day.

This article is general information about the Electricity Safety Act 1998 (Vic), not legal advice. It does not cover the Electricity Safety regulations, which set out prescribed work and other detail. Where the Act introduces a list with a dash, the quotes above show a colon. It quotes the Act as at version 089, incorporating amendments as at 8 September 2026, and is current as at 14 September 2026.