Certificates of Electrical Safety (COES)
A Certificate of Electrical Safety (COES) is a legal document issued by an electrician to record the details for their electrical work they performed, as required by the Electricity Safety Act 1998 (the Act) and the Electricity Safety (General) Regulations .
Lodging and purchasing COES
- Electronic COES – purchase and lodgement processes are completed in ESVConnect only.
- Energy Safe does not amend COES generated in ESVConnect or paper COES.
- Paper Prescribed and Non Prescribed COES are available at electrical wholesalers.
- Paper Periodic COES are available through the COES order form, see: Paper Certificates of Electrical Safety
- Paper COES can only be lodged via the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. Call 1300 360 366 and follow the prompts.
- Online Services is only available to Electric Wholesalers (Paper COES agents) and to Licensed Electrical Inspectors to lodge paper COES on behalf of Registered Electrical Contractor clients.
Energy Safe and Certificates of Electrical Safety
Energy Safe is responsible for the issue, sale, acceptance and overall management of Certificates of Electrical Safety (COES) and the electrical tradespeople who must certify and issue COES upon completion of electrical installation work.
The Electricity Safety Act and Electricity Safety (General) Regulations require a Certificate of Electrical Safety (COES) to be issued for all electrical installation work.
The COES system is structured to:
- improve electrical safety for the general public, electricity customers and electrical workers
- ensure all electrical installation work is undertaken only by qualified persons
- ensure completed electrical work is available to be audited for safety and compliance resulting in industry education.
Energy Safe provides COES to the industry in two ways:
- electronic (ESVConnect COES)
- paper form (COES).
It is the Responsible Person’s duty to confirm that all details are correct at the time of purchase, so lodgement can be performed successfully at the completion and testing of the electrical installation work.
Failure to comply with these requirements is a criminal offence and licensed workers who do so may be subject to disciplinary action which could result in the suspension or cancellation of their licence.
Note: Mutual recognition licence holders must be working for – or be registered as – a Registered Electrical Contractors (REC) to perform work for profit in Victoria. See Interstate electrical workers and Registered Electrical Contractors (REC)
Contact our COES team
The COES team can assist industry participants and consumers in the following ways:
- Regulatory obligations and education
- COES systems and processes for ESVConnect and paper certificates
- User identification numbers for lodging paper COES and registering on ESVConnect
- COES transfers (for example if a COES was incorrectly purchased under the wrong licence or registration)
- Refunds for COES when RECs and LEWs retire from industry
- Cancellations of Certificates
- Requests for copies of COES from industry and consumers.
Contact the COES team
- Phone: 03 9203 9700 (option 3)
- Email: coes@energysafe.vic.gov.au
- Contact form
Date: 27/04/2024 11:30
The currency and accuracy of this information cannot be guaranteed once printed or saved to a storage device. If in doubt, please check the Energy Safe Victoria website for the current version.
Reviewed 13 March 2024