I, Rhondda Dickson, Acting Secretary of the Department of Environment and Energy, make this Determination under sections 13, 13A, 15 and 21 of the Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Act 2010.

Dated 3 August 2016

Rhondda Dickson

1              Name of Determination

                This Determination is theBuilding Energy Efficiency Disclosure Determination 2016.

2              Commencement

                This Determination commences on 1 September 2016. 

3              Repeal

                The Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Determination 2015is repealed.

4              Definitions

                In this Determination:

Actmeans the Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Act 2010.

base building ratinghas the meaning given by the NABERS Energy rating rules.

Departmentmeans the Department of the Commonwealth whose responsible Minister administers the Act.

GreenPower programmeans the program known as the National GreenPower Accreditation Program, which is a joint initiative of agencies of the governments of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.

hours of occupancy, for a building or an area of a building, has the same meaning as in the NABERS Energy rating rules.

major refurbishment has the meaning given to it in the Regulations. 

NABERS Energy rating rules means the document titled NABERS Energy and Water for offices: Rules for collecting and using data, as in force from time to time, published by the NSW Environment Agency.  

Note:     NABERS Energy and Water for offices: Rules for collecting and using data is available on the NABERS’ website (http://www.nabers.gov.au). 

net lettable area, for a building or an area of a building, has the same meaning as in the document Method of Measurement for Lettable Area, dated March 1997, published by the Property Council of Australia Limited, as in force at the commencement of the Regulations.

Note:     The document titled Method of Measurement for Lettable Areais available from the Property Council of Australia Limited’s website at http://www.propertyoz.com.au.

NSW Environment Agency means the New South Wales government agency or Department of State that manages the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS). 

Note:     NABERS is a system for measuring the environmental performance of buildings. 

rated areashas the meaning given by the NABERS Energy rating rules.

rating periodhas the meaning given by the NABERS Energy rating rules.

Regulations means the Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Regulations 2010. 

start dayhas the meaning given in section 13(1) of the Act. 

Tenancy Lighting Assessment rules means the CBD Tenancy Lighting Assessment for Offices Rules, as in force from time to time, and any rulings made in accordance with those Rules,published by the Department. 

Note:     The document CBD Tenancy Lighting Assessment for Offices Rulesis available from the Commercial Building Disclosure program website at http://www.cbd.gov.au. 

tenancy ratinghas the meaning given by the NABERS Energy rating rules.

utility metermeans a meter:

               (a)    installed to measure electricity, gas or any other source of energy used in a building; and

               (b)    operated by the supplier of the electricity, gas or other source of energy as the basis for billing its customer.

whole building ratinghas the meaning given by the NABERS Energy rating rules.

5              Advertisements

         (1)   For section 15 of the Act, an energy efficiency rating for a building must be expressed in the advertisement:

               (a)    by using a whole number, or one-half of a whole number, worked out for the building under the NABERS Energy rating rules as applied by section 6, with 0 indicating the lowest rating; and

               (b)    by adding the words ‘-star NABERS Energy rating’ after the number worked out under paragraph (a).

Examples

1   ‘4.5-star NABERS Energy rating’.

2   ‘3-star NABERS Energy rating’.

         (2)   The rating must be displayed prominently within each separate advertisement so that:

               (a)    it is clearly visible; and

               (b)    it is not obscured; and

               (c)    the number and the text included in the rating is at least as large as the majority of the text contained in the advertisement.

6              Methods and standards of assessment — energy ratings

         (1)   For paragraph 21 (1) (a) of the Act, the determined assessment methods and standards to be applied in working out the energy efficiency rating for a building are: 

               (a)    the NABERS Energy rating rules as modified by subsections (2), (3), (4) and (5); or 

               (b)    the rules relating to reliance on a current NABERS rating contained in subsections (6), (7), (8), (9) and (10). 

Modification of NABERS Energy rating rules

         (2)   In applying the NABERS Energy rating rules under subsection (1) (a), an accredited assessor must work out an energy efficiency rating that does not take into account the purchase of electricity under the GreenPower program.

Note:     Information about the GreenPower program is available at http://www.greenpower.gov.au.

         (3)   In applying the NABERS Energy rating rules for buildings undertaking a major refurbishment under subsection (1) (a), an accredited assessor must not assign an energy efficiency rating to a building where the accredited assessor reasonably forms the opinion that the building is currently undergoing works which are likely to effect the energy efficiency rating of the building.  

         (4)   In applying the NABERS Energy rating rules under subsection (1) (a), an accredited assessor must work out the base building rating for a building unless the building has inadequate metering. Metering is deemed inadequate when the meters installed for the building are not sufficient to distinguish energy measured for tenancy energy use from base building energy use, resulting in a non-representative figure of the base building energy use.  

         (5)   If calculating a base building rating will result in a non-representative figure as under subsection (4), an accredited assessor must work out the whole building rating for the building. 

Reliance on a current NABERS rating

         (6)   For paragraph 21 (1) (a) of the Act, it is determined that a method and standard of assessment to be applied in working out the energy efficiency rating for a building is for an accredited assessor to adopt and rely on a current NABERS rating that has been certified by the National Administrator of the NABERS scheme in accordance with the NABERS Energy rating rules. 

         (7)   For subsection (6), an accredited assessor can only rely on a current NABERS rating that does not take into account the purchase of electricity under the GreenPower program.

         (8)   For subsection (6), an accredited assessor can only rely on a current NABERS rating where: 

               (a)    the current NABERS rating is a base building rating; or

               (b)    the current NABERS rating is a whole building rating; and

(i)      there is no current NABERS rating for the building that is a base building rating; and

(ii)     the accredited assessor would not be able to work out the base building rating for the building by applying the NABERS Energy rating rules under subsection (1) (a). 

         (9)   An accredited assessor cannot rely on a current NABERS rating under subsection (6) where the accredited assessor reasonably forms the opinion that the building is currently undergoing works which are likely to affect the energy efficiency rating of the building. 

       (10)   An accredited assessor cannot rely on a current NABERS rating under subsection (6) where the accredited assessor reasonably forms the opinion that the building has undergone works since the rating was certified which are likely to have affected the energy efficiency rating of the building.

7              Methods and standards of assessment — lighting

         (1)   For paragraphs 21 (1) (b) and 21 (1) (c) of the Act, the assessment methods and standards to be applied in working out the lighting energy efficiency for a building or an area of a building are determined to be:

               (a)    the Tenancy Lighting Assessment rules; or

               (b)    the rule relating to reliance on a current lighting assessment contained in subsection (2).

Reliance on a current lighting assessment

         (2)   For paragraphs 21 (1) (b) and 21 (1) (c) of the Act, it is determined that a method and standard of assessment to be applied in working out the lighting energy efficiency for a building or an area of a building is for an accredited assessor to adopt and rely on a current lighting assessment that has been submitted to and certified by the Department in accordance with the Tenancy Lighting Assessment rules.