The Efficiency Grants for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Round 2  is aimed at supporting businesses to upgrade or replace inefficient equipment in order to improve their energy efficiency in support of the Government’s target of a 43% reduction in emissions by 2030.

The open dates for applications are as follows:

• Victoria (VIC): Thursday, February 22, 2024, 12:00 pm AEDT
• Northern Territory (NT): Friday, February 23, 2024, 12:00 pm ACST
• South Australia (SA): Friday, February 23, 2024, 12:00 pm ACDT
• New South Wales (NSW): Monday, February 26, 2024, 12:00 pm AEDT
• Western Australia (WA): Tuesday, February 27, 2024, 12:00 pm AWST
• Tasmania (TAS), Australian Capital Territory (ACT): Tuesday, February 27, 2024, 12:00 pm AEDT
• Queensland (QLD): Wednesday, February 28, 2024, 12:00 pm AEST

Under this scheme, eligible small and medium-sized enterprises can receive grants of up to $25,000, covering up to 100% of eligible expenditure.  The grants will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis until the allocated funds are exhausted in each jurisdiction.

You can apply if you:

• have an Australian business number (ABN)

and are one of the following entity types:

• an Australian company
• a partnership
• a sole trader
• a corporate trustee on behalf of a trust

You must also:

• be a small or medium-sized business with an employee headcount from 1 to 199 employees;
• Have been in operation for a minimum of 24 months;
• have consent from the owner of the project location to undertake the project; and
• provide the mandatory attachments listed at Section 6.1 of the grant opportunity guidelines.

Eligible projects must be completed by 31 March 2025 and must not run for more than 12 months.

To be eligible, a project must:

• be aimed at reducing the energy consumption of your business;
• have at least $10,000 in eligible expenditure;
• be limited to one or more of the activities listed in Appendix B of the grant opportunity guidelines; and
• be entirely located within the state or territory you are applying for.

You can apply for a grant between $10,000 and $25,000 that can be used for:

• an energy audit of your site or part of your site.
• purchase or hire of equipment to measure, monitor and record energy use or to monitor a process, where this facilitates optimisation or energy management.
• purchase of new equipment to replace, or upgrade, existing equipment, where the new equipment is higher energy efficiency.
• costs to decommission, remove and dispose of the old equipment that is replaced.
• purchase of new equipment or components to help an existing system run more efficiently.
• design, and reasonable installation costs of new eligible equipment, including any necessary wiring or other electrical work required to enable the project.
• commissioning or tuning of equipment installed or modified as part of the project, and any related equipment that is affected by the project.
• building permits or approval costs to install equipment, where required.
• the cost of suppliers, consultants and contracted labour undertaking eligible project activities.

Where a project activity includes purchase of equipment, applicants must purchase new equipment only (not used/second hand equipment).

Interested businesses are encouraged to thoroughly review the grant opportunity guidelines to confirm their eligibility and to assist in preparing to submit an application.

The application process entails completing and submitting an application form through the online portal, which will not be available until the opening date listed above.  In the meantime, businesses can review a sample application form to help them prepare.

It is anticipated that the grants will be over-subscribed.  As such, we encourage interested businesses to prioritise preparation of their application.

If you would like to know more about this grant opportunity, please get in touch.

If you need assistance to understand the new rules, please get in contact.

Sky Accountants Ballarat

Phone: 03 5332 8855

Office Address: 902 Howitt Street, Wendouree, Victoria 3355, Australia

Postal Address: PO Box 2234, Bakery Hill, Victoria 3354

Sky Accountants Gisborne & Macedon Ranges

Phone: 03 5428 1400

Office Address: 45 Hamilton Street, Gisborne, Victoria 3437, Australia

Postal Address: PO Box 270 Gisborne Victoria 3437