Licensed plumbing and electrical practitioners self-certify their work by issuing consumers with compliance certificates. Issuing a compliance certificate means the practitioner certifies that their work complies with all relevant regulatory requirements. Only licensed plumbing and electrical practitioners may issue compliance certificates.
A licensed plumbing practitioner must issue a compliance certificate for all plumbing work that falls into certain categories. For example, where the total value of work, including materials, appliances, labour and GST, is more than $750, material costs must be included, regardless of whether the materials or appliances were supplied by another person.
There are several other categories of work that require a compliance certificate. These are outlined on the plumbing industry commission website.
The Electricity Safety Act 1998 and Electricity Safety (Installations) Regulations 2009 require a certificate of electrical safety to be issued for all electrical installation work.
To ensure that electrical and plumbing work, certified through compliance certificates , meets the high standard required to ensure consumer safety, random audits are conducted on approximately 10% of all electrical and plumbing work completed throughout Victoria.
Audits are conducted by compliance auditors. Their role is to conduct on-site assessments of the work performed against the lodged compliance certificate.
Consumers should always request a compliance certificate from plumbers and electricians on completion of work.
