17
For all the latest energy safety news visit www.esv.vic.gov.au
electrical
Your
questions
answered!
Summer 2015
energysafe issue 38
Compiled by ESV’s Electricity Technical
Advisor, John Stolk
EnergySafe continues its regular series
featuring some of the questions that
ESV receives on a range of electricity
installation issues, some of them relating
to gas installations. Also provided are
the answers together with references
to the Acts, Standards, Regulations and
Clauses that apply to them.
Question
Answer
Standard
Clause
Do Certificates of Electrical Safety
have to be issued even if the customer
doesn’t want one?
Yes, RECs and responsible persons are required by law to issue
certificates for prescribed and non-prescribed electrical installation
work to help ensure the safety of the public and workers. The
certificate also indicates to the customer that the work has been
carried out by a registered electrical contractor or a licensed
person rather than an unlicensed person.
Electrical installation work is “installation, repair,
alteration and maintenance of an electrical installation”.
The penalty for the failure to issue each certificate
is 10 Penalty Units. A penalty unit is $174.61
Electrical
Safety Act
1998
45A (1)
When is a job considered completed?
When any circuit is reactivated (put into service) or made
available to the customer for use.
In practice, this means that you should provide a certificate
at the completion of each day’s work or part thereof if the circuit
has been put into service or made available to the customer to use.
If you are not returning to complete the work, usually if there is a
contractual dispute or the owner contracts someone else to finish
the work, it is considered complete and requires a COES.
The penalty for the failure to issue a certificate
is 10 Penalty Units.
Electrical
Safety Act
1998
45A(2)(b)
Do certificates for prescribed and
non-prescribed electrical work have to
be registered on the ESV IVR telephone
system or internet?
Yes, the responsible person must give notification (IVR or internet)
of completion of the certificate within two business days from the
completion of the certificate.
The penalty for the failure to register each certificate
is 10 Penalty Units.
Electricity
Safety
(Installations)
Regulations
2009.
Regulation
253
Does the ESV copy (white) of a paper
certificate for prescribed or non-prescribed
electrical work have to be returned to ESV?
Yes, the responsible person must within the required timeframe
send the ESV copy (white) of the paper certificate to ESV.
The penalty for the failure to distribute each certificate
is 10 Penalty Units.
Electrical
Safety Act
1998
45A(6)(c)
Can non-prescribed electrical work be included
on a certificate for prescribed electrical work?
Yes, only when the non-prescribed electrical installation work
is completed at the same time as the prescribed electrical
installation work.
Electrical
Safety Act
1998
45A(2)(a)
Is the replacement of a main switchboard
prescribed electrical work?
Yes, the replacement of a switchboard assembly installed as
the installation’s main switchboard is prescribed electrical work.
The penalty for the failure to have prescribed electrical work
inspected for each certificate is 40 Penalty Units for a sole
trader and 200 Penalty Units for a company.
Electricity
Safety
(Installations)
Regulations
2009
Regulation
238(1)(a)
What is the minimum distance between the
external electrical equipment and the gas
meter assembly installed within single or
multi-occupancy residential premises?
The gas meter and/or associated assembly (eg. regulator,
relief valve) shall have the following minimum clearances:
(a)
The distance between vent outlets of a single meter or
gas compartment and electrical equipment shall be a
minimum of 1000mm; and
(b) 300mm from earth electrode; and
(c)
The minimum clearance between any part of the electricity
meter box and the gas meter regulator shall be 500mm.
AusNet
Services
Information
for Plumbers:
Gas Meter
locations
Any portion of an underground line on public land that is at or
above the surface must be mechanically protected from the point
300mm below the surface to a height of 2400mm above the surface.
Electricity
Safety
(Installations)
Regulations
2009
When installing underground cables
in public areas to what height do I need
to provide mechanical protection for the
portion of cable above the ground where
the underground cable is accessible to
the public?
For single
and multioccupancy
residential
premises
Regulation
219