The Energy Efficiency Grants for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Round 1, with grants of up to $25K, will support businesses to upgrade or replace inefficient equipment to improve their energy efficiency. This will contribute to Australia’s target of a 43% reduction on 2005 emission levels by 2030.

Deadlines and Timings

Applications will open on 6 March 2023 and end on 19 April 2023.

Estimated start date of project should be by June 2023, and project completion date is by June 2024.

Overview and Grant Amount

This grant opportunity is for SMEs with an employee headcount of 1 to 199 employees. The upgrades the SMEs will implement is expected to to reduce their energy use and manage energy cost volatility in the long term. The objectives of the program are to:

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

The grants available are from $10,000 to $25,000 to cover up to 100% of eligible project expenditure. There is a total of $16 million budget allocation for this grant opportunity. Grant funding will be distributed between states and territories based on the distribution of SMEs nationally.

Eligibility and Criteria

To be eligible you must:

• have an Australian Business Number (ABN) and be one of the following entity types: (i) an entity incorporated in Australia; (ii) a partnership; (iii) a sole trader
• be an SME with an employee headcount from 1 to 199 employees averaged over any consecutive 12-month period since 1 July 2019. We may ask you to provide evidence of your calculation
• be an entity which have consent from the owner of the project location to undertake the project, if the entity is not the owner of the project location

Eligible Projects

Eligible expenditure items must be incurred in the delivery of eligible project activities. These must be a direct cost of the project, must be incurred for required project audit activities. Eligible expenditure items are:

• 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 equipment to replace 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 equipment or components to help an existing system run more efficiently in regard to energy
• design, and reasonable installation costs of 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

Expenditure items that are not eligible are:

• internal salaries and labour costs for employees of your business
• the cost of business-as-usual activities, including: annual maintenance, rent, water, rates, and consumables such as paper, printer cartridges, office supplies, brochures and other marketing materials, kitchen supplies including food
• purchase of vehicles, new or used
• purchase of equipment that is not related to your business and improving energy efficiency (e.g., equipment for domestic use or that is primarily for another type of activity at your site)
• purchase of energy generation equipment such as solar panels or biomass generation systems
• purchase of solar panel, inverter or battery components for solar-powered pumping systems
• purchase of electrical energy storage equipment, such as batteries
• maintenance and repair costs for equipment
• costs associated with switching from electricity to gas
• purchase of new equipment where it replaces equipment that is broken or no longer functional

You must not re-use any equipment item that is being replaced, or sell it for re-use; it must be disposed of and not re-used by you or anyone else.

For more information, interested parties are encouraged to read the program guidelines set by the funding grant. Sample application form and grant agreement is also available for your reference. Submissions must be lodged through their online portal.

Expert Assistance

We have over 14 years of experience preparing EMDG claims and can assist in making sure you receive your maximum rebate.

Working with us means you get the maximum grant with minimum risk and effort. Our expertise includes R&D Tax Incentive registration and tax schedules, Export Grants, Capital Expenditure and Infrastructure Grants.

Get in touch with us and let’s discuss this more in detail.

For information about other Australian Government Grants, visit Treadstone New Grants page and sign up to our newsletter!