What is new under Victoria's VEU scheme for warehouses?

A dedicated Commercial & Industrial Solar PV activity for systems over 100kW, added in October 2025, with updated guidelines from 23 December 2025. Separately, the refrigerated display cabinet incentive is currently suspended pending review.

Is the NSW lighting incentive under ESS still available?

The Commercial Lighting Energy Savings Formula method is being retired, with no new accreditations from 12 September 2025 and the method ending fully on 31 March 2026 — confirm current eligibility with an accredited provider before relying on it.

What does South Australia's REPS offer businesses?

Targets for 2026–2030 were gazetted on 24 December 2025, delivered through obliged energy retailers offering incentives including for battery and demand-response activities. Check current retailer offers for the specific business-eligible activities.

How confident is the detail on each of these three schemes?

Victoria's detail is confirmed directly against the ESC Victoria regulator page. NSW and SA detail is drawn from secondary industry reporting on the schemes and should be confirmed against the primary IPART or ESCOSA sources before being relied on for a specific project.

State energy incentive schemes: what is open, and what is closing

Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia each run their own energy efficiency scheme with business-specific activities, and each is moving at its own pace. Some incentives relevant to a warehouse or cold store are new; at least one is currently suspended pending review. Here is what each state actually offers, checked directly with the regulator where possible.

Last updated 2026-08-24

Victoria: Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU)

Victoria's VEU scheme, regulated by the Essential Services Commission, added a dedicated Commercial & Industrial Solar PV activity in October 2025 for systems over 100kW serving large commercial or industrial premises, with updated program guidelines released 23 December 2025 and further eligibility updates through to mid-2026. This is a directly useful, dated fact for a warehouse or distribution centre sizing a rooftop solar project in Victoria specifically.

The same regulator page also carries a less convenient fact worth knowing before assuming an incentive exists: incentives for energy-efficient refrigerated display cabinets are currently suspended pending a full activity review, with no reinstatement timeline given as of the page's most recent update (30 July 2026). A Victorian cold storage operator budgeting for a refrigeration upgrade should not assume this incentive is currently available and should check the regulator page directly before relying on it.

New South Wales: Energy Savings Scheme (ESS) and PDRS

NSW runs the Energy Savings Scheme (ESS) alongside the Peak Demand Reduction Scheme (PDRS) covered separately in battery storage and demand management. Reporting on the scheme indicates the Commercial Lighting Energy Savings Formula method — a common pathway for LED lighting retrofits — is being retired, with no new accreditations from 12 September 2025 and last product acceptance by 31 January 2026, ending fully on 31 March 2026. Refrigerated display cabinets remain a separately eligible ESS activity, with a minimum payment of $1,000 (ex GST) reported for implementations from 12 September 2025. New ESS and PDRS Rules, administered by IPART, commenced 1 July 2026.

This NSW detail is worth flagging plainly: it comes from secondary industry reporting on the scheme rather than a directly-fetched IPART or NSW Government primary page, unlike the Victorian detail above, which was confirmed directly against the regulator's own site. A NSW business planning a lighting retrofit specifically around the ESS should confirm current method eligibility with an accredited provider or against the primary IPART Rules before committing, given that gap in sourcing confidence.

South Australia: Retailer Energy Productivity Scheme (REPS)

South Australia's REPS sets targets for 2026–2030 that were gazetted on 24 December 2025, apportioned by the Essential Services Commission of South Australia (ESCOSA) to obliged energy retailers, who then deliver incentives — discounts, free products, rebates or vouchers — directly to households and businesses, including for battery and demand-response activities. As with the NSW detail above, the business-specific activity list under this new target period was not independently confirmed from a directly-fetched primary source in the course of this page's research, so an SA business should check current retailer offers directly rather than relying on a fixed list here. This general run of energy-cost management sits alongside broader warehouse energy cost management, which an SA site should still work through even where a specific REPS activity is not confirmed.

How to use this across three different states

The pattern across all three schemes is the same even though the specifics differ: each state sets targets and eligible activities that change on their own schedule, sometimes adding a new activity (Victoria's C&I solar, NSW's new PDRS battery activities), sometimes retiring or suspending one (NSW's lighting method, Victoria's refrigeration incentive). None of the three should be assumed to still say what this page says by the time you read it without checking the regulator directly — that is the whole reason each of these schemes updates its own page multiple times a year.

A new-build or major fitout is usually the point where checking all three (or whichever applies to your state) against the current activity list is worth doing properly, since eligible activities and incentive values are far easier to fold into a project already being scoped than to retrofit in afterwards — and a leased site should have that conversation early, since the lease terms can determine whether a tenant is even the party entitled to claim a given incentive.

Victoria (VEU): new Commercial & Industrial Solar PV activity from October 2025; refrigerated cabinet incentive currently suspended
NSW (ESS): Commercial Lighting Energy Savings Formula method retiring, fully ended 31 March 2026; refrigerated cabinets remain eligible
SA (REPS): 2026–2030 targets gazetted 24 December 2025, delivered via obliged retailers
Check the current regulator page for your state before budgeting around any of the above

Common questions

What is new under Victoria's VEU scheme for warehouses?: A dedicated Commercial & Industrial Solar PV activity for systems over 100kW, added in October 2025, with updated guidelines from 23 December 2025. Separately, the refrigerated display cabinet incentive is currently suspended pending review.
Is the NSW lighting incentive under ESS still available?: The Commercial Lighting Energy Savings Formula method is being retired, with no new accreditations from 12 September 2025 and the method ending fully on 31 March 2026 — confirm current eligibility with an accredited provider before relying on it.
What does South Australia's REPS offer businesses?: Targets for 2026–2030 were gazetted on 24 December 2025, delivered through obliged energy retailers offering incentives including for battery and demand-response activities. Check current retailer offers for the specific business-eligible activities.
How confident is the detail on each of these three schemes?: Victoria's detail is confirmed directly against the ESC Victoria regulator page. NSW and SA detail is drawn from secondary industry reporting on the schemes and should be confirmed against the primary IPART or ESCOSA sources before being relied on for a specific project.

Sources

Essential Services Commission Victoria — Victorian Energy Upgrades program updates — Directly fetched from the scheme regulator. Confirms the new Commercial & Industrial Solar PV activity and the suspended refrigerated cabinet incentive. Page last updated 30 July 2026.
NSW Energy Sustainability Schemes — Energy Savings Scheme (ESS) — Commercial lighting method retirement dates and refrigerated cabinet minimum payment. Retrieved via secondary reporting, not a direct IPART fetch.
ESCOSA — REPS news, 2026 targets — REPS 2026–2030 target gazettal date. Business-specific activity mechanics not independently confirmed from a directly-fetched primary source.

Part of our guide to the warehouse power bill.