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Issue 68 – September 2023
How can you work with a scheme that continues to evolve?
Welcome to the latest ESS Newsletter.
We all know that schemes evolve to meet changing circumstances. The ESS and PDRS are no exception as new considerations come into play in achieving the objectives of the schemes.
What does this mean for a business operating in an evolving scheme that needs to plan and stay ahead of the curve? How can it remain consistent in its planning but adaptive to things like Rule changes?
The solution lies with us working together to achieve scheme outcomes.
In this latest edition, we are going to update you on the latest things you need to know. We’ll also introduce you to ways we can work together more effectively. It’s a small taste of this year’s Stakeholder Forum, which we hope to see you at on 3 November.
Best Regards,
IPART ESS Team
How compliance is changing to put you in the driver’s seat
Compliance is all about ensuring the Safeguard is successful and can achieve its legislated outcomes. There are several ways that regulators can achieve this.
Different ways to achieve compliance
One approach involves ensuring a business follows specific processes or rules irrespective of the underlying risk. For a business, this might mean having to "tickbox" a list of requirements or show you have followed a specific process to demonstrate compliance.
In contrast, a “risk-based” approach involves the regulator identifying underlying risks that can occur when operators do not comply. Then making areas of greater risk a priority to focus their compliance efforts. For a business, this doesn’t mean you can ignore all the rules. But it does mean giving extra effort to those higher risk areas.
IPART's journey for achieving compliance more effectively
While there was a time when IPART followed the more traditional “tickbox” approach, we are on a journey to use risk-based compliance. You will see this in practice with our yearly compliance priorities. We consider a risk-based approach is the best way to use our resources and compliance efforts to support the Safeguard’s legislative outcomes.
Built into this is an “outcome-focus” to compliance. This approach means we are more concerned with the result than the process of how you got there when measuring compliance. This impacts how you might go about proving compliance.
Your seat in the journey
Imagine that you need to demonstrate that a PDRS activity occurred on a particular date. In such a case, we will be less concerned about the precise process you follow. Instead, we'll be more concerned that whatever evidence you use is robust and clearly shows when the activity occurred (the outcome we are seeking).
This puts you in the driver's seat more often when demonstrating your compliance with the scheme.
We'll explore more of this risk-based approach and how it affects you at the upcoming Stakeholder Forum.
Some things you need to know since our last newsletter
- Scheme participant compliance deadlines in November. ESS Annual Statements and PDRS Individual Liable Demand statement are due on 16 November. Remember to upload these directly in TESSA.
- Lighting products withdrawn from product acceptance list. Check our recent email to find out what these products are and why the Scheme Administrator withdrew several lighting products for commercial lighting from 26 August.
- Emails you can expect from IPART
- IPART email addresses now use a “dot” between first and last name: i.e. firstname.lastname@ipart.nsw.gov.au instead of firstname_lastname@ipart.nsw.gov.au.
- Email messages from TESSA now arrive in your inbox from ipart.portals@ipart.nsw.gov.au.
What do you think of the new heat pump water heater fact sheet for consumers under the HEER and IHEAB methods?
Revising our guidance on volumetric limits
As the schemes continue to grow and evolve, we have decided it is time to take a fresh look at our approach to volumetric limits.
We are in the early stages of this work and want to take a more risk-based approach to how these limits are set. We’ll keep you posted on how the review progresses.
Note our guidance on volumetric limits is designed to help you make better and, therefore, more successful applications for amendments, such as volumetric limit increases.
The purpose of our guidance is to let you know the things we consider when making decisions. Not every decision we make will be the same. What is important is that we consider each case on its merits and have regard to each set of circumstances.
For example, when you are making an application to increase your volumetric limit, it is important that you explain why a change is needed. It’s not a tick-boxing approach. We want you to tell us why the change is important for your business. You need to provide us with enough information to help us understand the basis of your application and to properly assess its merits.
Did you know?
We’ve noticed a higher demand for auditors now, so you should consider booking an auditor earlier than usual to meet standard deadlines
We are holding this year’s Safeguard Stakeholder Forum on Friday 3 November in the Northcott Room in the Sydney Masonic Centre. Online attendance is available if you can't be there in person, Let us know when registering so we can send you a link.
Guidance on installing multiple heat pump water heater and calculations is available – check our recent email for more information
You can estimate how many certificates you can create for an activity under the ESS or PDRS with the NSW Government’s new Safeguard Certificate Estimator. Try the Safeguard Estimator to see the financial benefits and check scheme eligibility.
