Contents

• Exemption certificate application
• Application to amend your exemption certificate
• Client Portal user tips

Applicants who are issued an exemption certificate must submit monthly data for their certifiable amount at the end of the calendar year, likewise if the exemption certificate is amended. The certifiable amount is the benefit applicants receive after applying for an exemption certificate. The benefit is:

• the calculated amount of electricity consumed within the emissions-intensive trade-exposed (EITE) activity boundary
  
• used by liable entities to reduce their relevant acquisitions of electricity in their annual statements. See Reporting liability for more information.

Exemption certificate application

Applicants can enter monthly data for the certifiable amount period at any time after the exemption certificate is issued.

You are required to submit monthly data to the CER to receive a notice of certifiable amount. Failure to submit your data by 16 January immediately following the certifiable amount period may delay the assessment of your notice of certifiable amount. This may impact your electricity retailer's reporting and surrender obligation by 14 February.

Application to amend your exemption certificate

Applicants that apply to amend an exemption certificate may need to amend their monthly data for the certifiable amount period. If this occurs, we will arrange to reopen the exemption determination tool so you can make the required amendments.

We encourage applicants to submit monthly data amendments promptly to finalise the amendment.

Client Portal user tips

The following information is intended to help applicants to enter monthly data and submit it at the end of the certifiable amount period and find the notice of certifiable amount letter.

Question: Why won’t my exemption determination tool ‘Save and calculate’?

You should be able to click ‘Save and calculate’ after entering data for one or more months. If you are unable to do so, check that:

• you have entered data:
  • for every component of your use amount formula for the month. That is every meter and ‘other element’ for a month must have data entered to ‘Save and calculate’ the exemption determination tool
  • in all mandatory fields, including ‘production quantity.’ This can be an estimate until you submit your certifiable amount period monthly data, at which point it must be an accurate reflection of the year
• if required, you have provided a response in the ‘Please explain why the market operator data is incorrect or inaccurate.’ field. This field will be displayed if you are not using Australian Energy Market Operator data so you will need to record your data source (for example, electricity retailer billing information or direct meter readings).

• your ‘Meter information’ > ‘Reading Type’ is correct.
• you have not accidently submitted your calendar year data before you have finalised it if you forecast your monthly data

If it is none of the above, email cer-industryassistanceschemes@cer.gov.au to help you complete the exemption determination tool.

After saving and calculating, submit your final monthly data for the certifiable amount period by clicking ‘Submit final readings.’ You cannot make changes once your data is submitted unless you apply for an amendment using the ‘Notify the regulator’ form in the Client Portal.

Question: How do I enter meter data?

If you are unable to enter your meter data or need clarity here are some tips.

• Enter MWh not kWh. Most meters provide kWh readings where you need to divide by 1,000 to arrive at MWh.
• Enter billing meter data (customer meter or equivalent) that is read from 00:00 1 January to 00:00 1 January the following year.
• Enter internal meter data that is read at a consistent point in time for the month. If electronic, 00:00 first day of the month. If manual, select an appropriate time within the first four days of the month and read the meter at that time and day each month.
• If you use cumulative meters and the meter ticks over during the year, add the previous month’s reading to the reading for the current month to get an amount to enter.
• If you use National Electricity Market network meter identifiers, accept Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) data if correct or you can add your own value. If you provide your own value, you will need to provide a reason in the ‘Please explain why the market operator data is incorrect or inaccurate.’ field.
• Enter as per unit values for % elements (for example, for 20% enter 0.20 rather than 20).

Question: Where is the ‘Notice of certifiable amount’ letter?

You and your liable entity or entities are notified of the assessment outcome through the Client Portal ‘Messages’ area if you gave them access to receive the letter in the exemption certificate application. You will receive a message linking to the PDF ‘Notice of certifiable amount’ letter. If you are not a ‘Primary contact,’ complete a ‘Notify the regulator’ form in the Client Portal to request the role and the exemption certificate letter because the initial message cannot be resent via the system.

Only the current ‘Primary Contact’ that is listed first will receive this message. If the ‘Primary Contact’ has changed, you will need to contact the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) to update the ‘Primary Contact’ and the CER will need to manually send you the ‘Notice of certifiable amount’ letter. For assistance, email cer-industryassistanceschemes@cer.gov.au. .