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Funding for energy efficiency and electrification upgrades for local governments
Community Energy Upgrades Fund Round 2
The Community Energy Upgrades program will co-fund energy efficiency and electrification upgrades for local governments to deliver reduced energy bills and emissions from local government owned and/or operated facilities.
Closing date: Friday 13 June 2025 5:00pm AEST Fri 13 Jun 2025 5:00pm AEST
What do you get?
Grants between $25,000 and $2,500,000 to cover up to 50% of eligible expenditure.
Who is this for?
Local government bodies.
About the program
The Community Energy Upgrades Fund Round 2 will provide matched funding of up to $2.5 million of eligible expenditure for energy efficiency and electrification upgrades for local governments to deliver reduced energy bills and emissions from local government-owned and/or operated facilities. The program will also support the Commonwealth led National Energy Performance Strategy (NEPS).
The objectives of the program are to support:
- the Government’s broader efforts to reduce emissions and improve energy performance, and contribute to Australia meeting its emission reduction targets of 43 percent by 2030, Net-Zero emissions by 2050, and 82% renewable electricity generation by 2030
- local governments to decarbonise their operations and reduce energy bills through energy efficiency and load flexibility upgrades, and electrification of their existing facilities
- the improvement in energy performance necessary to more easily utilise renewable electricity and improve system reliability.
The intended outcomes of the program are:
- reduced energy bills and emissions from local government-owned and/or operated facilities
- installed energy efficiency, load flexibility and electrification technology that is commercially available
- improved capability of local governments and the wider community to implement energy upgrades and electrification projects in their existing facilities
- increased capacity of domestic supply chains and labour force to support significant future investment in energy efficiency upgrades
- improved workforce skills in delivering and operating energy transition projects.
The program will deliver $100 million over 2 funding rounds and will run over 4 years from 2024-2025 to 2027-28.
Check if you can apply
You can apply if you meet the eligibility criteria. The eligibility criteria are a set of rules that describe who we can consider for this grant. You can apply if you:
- are an eligible entity
- have an eligible project
- have eligible expenditure.
The rules are in the grant opportunity guidelines.
You can apply if you:
- have an Australian business number (ABN)
And are one of the following entities:
- a local government body
- a joint local government body (as defined in section 14 of the guidelines).
You can’t apply if you:
- an organisation included on the National Redress Scheme’s list of Institutions that have not joined or signified their intent to join the Scheme
- an employer of 100 or more employees that has not complied with the Workplace Gender Equality Act (2012)
- were a successful applicant in Community Energy Upgrades Fund Round 1 - this includes joint local government bodies funded in Community Energy Upgrades Fund Round 1
- are a member of a separate joint local government body application in Round 2.
You must complete your project by 31 March 2028. The maximum project length is 24 months.
Your project must:
- be aimed at meeting the objectives of the grant opportunity, as outlined in section 2 of the guidelines
- have at least $50,000 in eligible expenditure
- be aimed at energy efficiency and/or electrification and/or load flexibility upgrades that reduce costs and emissions for local government’s existing facilities or operations, using commercially available technologies.
You can apply for a grant between $25,000 and $2,500,000.
You can only spend the grant on eligible expenditure you have incurred on an agreed project as defined in your grant agreement.
- For guidance on eligible expenditure, refer to appendix A of the guidelines.
- For guidance on ineligible expenditure, refer to appendix B of the guidelines.
To be eligible, expenditure must:
- be a direct cost of the project
- be incurred by you for required project audit activities.
You must incur the project expenditure between the project start and end date for it to be eligible unless stated otherwise.
How to apply
Check if you’re ready to apply for a grant
Finding a suitable grant opportunity is just the start of the process to get funding. The application process can take time and effort. Understanding the entire process will help you be grant ready and may improve your chances of getting funding.
Use our checklist to find out what it takes to apply for a grant.
When you're ready to apply
When the online form is available, you must submit your application through the online portal. You’ll need to set up an account when you first log into the portal. The portal allows you to apply for and manage a grant or service in a secure online environment.
First we check that you meet the eligibility criteria. Only eligible applications will proceed to the assessment stage.
The assessment criteria are a set of rules that describe how we must assess each application.
We give each criterion a certain number of points. The committee will assess your application based on the weighting given to each criterion.
We will only award funding to applications that score at least 50% against each assessment criterion.
- Assessment criterion 1: Describe how your project will reduce local government greenhouse gas emissions and/or provide load flexibility (30 points).
- Assessment criterion 2: Wider impact of the grant funding (20 points).
- Assessment criterion 3: Capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project (30 points).
- Assessment criterion 4: Economic and social benefits (20 points).
The amount of detail and supporting evidence you provide should be relative to the project size, complexity and grant amount requested.
The program delegate makes the final decision.
Apply now
Apply for the Community Energy Upgrades Fund Round 2 now.
Before you apply, make sure you:
- read and understand the grant opportunity guidelines
- read all eligibility and assessment criteria closely
- have all required documentation listed in section 7.1 of the guidelines, including detailed evidence that supports the assessment criteria. You must attach all documents in your application.
Sample applications
The best way to understand what information you need to provide is to start an application. We have also provided a version to download at the bottom of this page.
Technical help
See our customer portal's frequently asked questions to help with your queries. If you can't find your answer, contact us for assistance.
If you submit your application before the close date you can retrieve it any time to make changes. But you must submit it again before the close date.
You can only submit an application between the published opening and closing dates. We can’t accept late applications.
Past rounds
Contact
Need help?
Let us answer your question over the phone, email or live chat.
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Open Hours:
Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm across Australia
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Key documents
Abatement calculator
xlsx · 0.09 MB