Energy Works Certificates

What an energy works certificate actually is

An energy works certificate is the document you receive at the end of a check of your property's electrical installation. The check is the work. The certificate is the record of it.

That is why the words move around. You will hear energy works certificate, certificate of verification and CoV used for what is, from your side, the same thing: somebody qualified assesses the installation, and if it is safe and compliant you get a document saying so. Which document you need depends on who is asking and why, and it is the reason our booking page splits them by situation rather than by name.

If you are not sure which one applies to you, our office team will work it out with you before you book. Nobody expects a homeowner to know the difference.

How often should an installation be assessed?

There is no single legal interval that applies to every property in New Zealand. The standard that covers this, AS/NZS 3019:2022, sets the interval by risk rather than by a fixed number of years. What drives it is the type of installation and equipment, how it is used and operated, how well it has been maintained, and the external conditions it sits in (clause 2.9).

The standard does give indicative guidance in its notes. Longer intervals can suit an ordinary domestic dwelling, and shorter ones apply where the risk is higher, for example workplaces where degradation could lead to shock, fire or explosion, buildings carrying both high and low voltage, communal facilities, and safety systems such as emergency lighting. Those figures are guidance rather than a fixed rule, though the standard notes that legislation can set a maximum interval.

One piece of that guidance matters more than the rest if you are buying or selling. The standard recommends an assessment when the occupancy of a home changes. That is exactly the moment most people never think to check, and it is why our pre-purchase and pre-sale options exist.

The levels of assessment

Not every check is the same depth, and you should know which one you are buying. AS/NZS 3019:2022 sets out four levels, the last of which applies in New Zealand only (clauses 1.2 and 2.5.3):

1. Basic visual inspection. A look over the accessible parts of the installation to confirm it is in good working order and shows no signs of misuse, damage or deterioration. No electrical testing at this level.
2. Detailed visual inspection with limited testing. The visual inspection above, plus a defined set of electrical tests.
3. Detailed visual inspection with full testing. The same again, with the standard's full set of tests added.
4. Assessment of enhanced safety. A New Zealand only level, carried out on top of the three above. It applies where an older installation should be held to a higher standard of safety than the rules of its day required, but where rewiring it to current new build requirements is not warranted.

The standard is clear that if a basic visual inspection turns up signs of something unsafe, going deeper may be necessary to establish whether the installation is actually safe. In practice that is a judgement your inspector makes on the day, and we will tell you before we do anything that changes the cost.

What we do. An eCertify visit is a visual assessment of the installation in line with Section 3 of the standard, with limited testing from Section 4 added wherever it is required or wherever the inspector judges it necessary. That judgement is made on the day, on what is actually in front of us, rather than decided in advance by a price list.

The standard supports working this way. Section 3 states that a visual inspection may be carried out alongside the testing set out in Sections 4 and 5, and that where a visual inspection shows evidence of an unsafe condition, going further may be necessary to establish whether the installation is safe.

Who can carry out the assessment

Under AS/NZS 3019:2022 the assessment must be carried out by a competent person, and the standard defines that as somebody whose education, training, qualification or experience, or a combination of those, gives them the knowledge and skill to do the job correctly (clauses 1.5.1 and 2.8). The standard also notes that regulation can specify who is permitted to do this work, so the standard is the floor, not the whole answer.

The report itself has to be compiled and signed, or otherwise authenticated, by that competent person, and given to whoever asked for the assessment (clause 2.10).

Every eCertify assessment is carried out by registered, fully qualified electricians and inspectors. It is the only work we do.