The Federal Government has introduced an Energy Efficiency Grant that will provide small and medium sized businesses with an employee headcount of 1 – 199 employees up to $25,000 to replace or upgrade their existing equipment to improve energy efficiency and reduce costs.

Grants are between $10,000 – $25,000 and will cover 100% of eligible project expenditure. There is a total of $16 million available for this grant opportunity.

The Energy Efficiency Grants for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Round 1 will help support businesses to upgrade or replace insufficient equipment to improve their energy efficiency.

These upgrades will assist industries in reducing their energy use and managing their energy cost volatility in the long term.

This will also contribute to Australia’s target of a 43% reduction on 2005 emission levels by 2030.

The objectives of the program are to:

• improve energy efficiency practices and increase the uptake of energy efficient technologies
• assist small businesses to manage their energy usage and costs
• reduce greenhouse gas emissions

The intended outcomes of the program are:

• increased awareness of energy efficiency opportunities and help businesses to save energy
• reduced power bills for small and medium businesses
• emissions abatement to contribute to Australia reducing its emissions to 43% below 2005 levels by 2030.

Am I eligible?

You can apply if you:

• Are an eligible entity
  • Have an Australian Business Number (ABN) and are either an entity incorporated in Australia, a partnership or a sole trader
  • You must also be a small or medium sized business with an employee headcount from 1 to 199 employees averaged over any consecutive 12-month period since 1 July 2019 and have consent from the owner of the project location to undertake the project (if the entity is not the owner of the project location).

• Have an eligible project
  • The project must be aimed at reducing the energy consumption of you business in Australia and your business must have at least $10,000 in eligible expenditure
  • Your project may include the following activities:
    • an energy audit of your site or part of your site
    • the design and installation of energy efficient equipment, including any necessary wiring or other electrical work
    • measuring, monitoring and recording energy usage
    • the commissioning or tuning of equipment installation

• Have eligible expenditure
  • You can use this grant funding for:
    • purchase of equipment to replace existing equipment, where the new equipment is higher energy efficient
    • cost to decommission, remove and dispose of the old equipment that is replaced
    • purchase of equipment or components to help an existing system run more efficiently in regard to energy
    • building permits or approval costs to install equipment, where required
    • the cost of suppliers, consultants and contracted labour undertaking eligible project activities

How to apply?

Before you apply, make sure to:

• read and understand the grant opportunity guidelines
• read the grant agreement
• read the sample application form

Have a question?

Contact Silver & Young Chartered Accountants