Melbourne LED lighting upgrade
Free LED commercial upgrade in Victoria: how Melbourne businesses get it in 2026
Melbourne businesses with eligible fluorescent lighting may receive an upfront discount under the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program. Check your site in about 60 seconds and see whether a $0 or low-cost provider offer may be available.
Takes about 60 seconds · No-obligation assessment · Final cost confirmed in writing
Independent service · Not a government website · Accredited providers only · Licensed installation · Written price before any work · No obligation
At a glance
What your existing lighting means under the VEU
| Your existing lighting | Likely position |
|---|---|
| Indoor fluorescent tubes or battens | May qualify |
| Outdoor metal halide lighting (open-air car parks, yards) | May qualify under a separate outdoor activity |
| Indoor metal halide warehouse high bays | Generally not eligible under the current indoor activity |
| Halogen | Generally not eligible indoors |
| Already LED | Generally not eligible |
| Not sure what you have | Send photos through the form and we will check |
Indicative only. Eligibility and your out-of-pocket cost are confirmed by an accredited provider in a written quote.
What is your current lighting costing you?
Enter what you have and how long it runs. The estimate shows the running cost now and after an LED upgrade.
Electricity is fixed at 30c per kWh for this estimate. Your rate may differ.
Enter a number of fittings above to see the estimate.
NowAfter LED
An eligible scheme discount may reduce the upfront cost. Send us your fitting count and we will come back with what applies at your site.
Estimate only, based on the numbers you enter. Assumed wattages before and after are shown under each fitting type. Actual savings depend on your fittings, hours and tariff. Not a quote.
Get a free commercial lighting assessment
Tell us about your business lighting and we will come back with what the scheme covers at your site. Melbourne and across Victoria. It takes about a minute, and there is no cost or obligation.
Form not loading? Open the assessment form in a new tab.
What happens next: we review your lighting details, confirm whether the site appears eligible, and contact you about a provider assessment. Nothing is installed and no commitment is made without a written quote showing the discount and any amount you pay.
No cost, no obligation, and we never sell your details on. Your details go to one accredited provider for your state, as set out in our privacy policy.
How Energy Rebate Check works
Check your postcode
Enter your business postcode and tell us it’s a commercial site. We’ll show the lighting support that may apply.
Tell us about your lighting
Roughly how many fittings, what type (tubes, battens, outdoor fittings), and your operating hours. These three things set the subsidy.
Get a subsidised upgrade quote
We connect Melbourne and Victorian enquiries with accredited providers for an assessment and a quote with the certificate value already applied. Free and no obligation.
Why Melbourne LED upgrades cost so little
Lighting is one of the biggest electricity loads in commercial premises, often up to 40% of a site’s bill. Under the VEU, an accredited provider creates Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificates (VEECs) from an eligible upgrade and sells them to the energy retailers who are required to buy them. That market value funds the upfront discount on your quote. On a standard office or shop full of fluorescent battens the discount can be large relative to the job, which is why “free LED commercial upgrade” advertising is common in Victoria. Whether it covers the whole job depends on the provider, the fitting count and the site.
What gets upgraded in Melbourne businesses
Indoor fluorescent tubes and battens, the classic office, shop, warehouse and back-of-house fitting, replaced with LED battens and panels. Fluoro-lit stairwells, corridors and common areas where the lights run all night and the certificate value is highest. Outdoor lighting at open-air car parks, yards and sportsgrounds, which sits under a separate VEU activity and may include eligible metal halide fittings.
Indoor is fluorescent only in Victoria: for indoor commercial lighting, current VEU incentives generally apply where the existing lights are fluorescent. Incentives to replace other indoor lighting types, including metal halide high bays and halogen, have ended. Some outdoor and non-building lighting, including eligible metal halide lighting in open-air car parks, may still qualify under a separate VEU activity. Victoria’s largest energy users are excluded from lighting upgrades unless they opt in to the program. If a page is advertising a subsidised indoor high bay swap in Victoria, check its date.
Across Melbourne and regional Victoria
Upgrades run wherever the meter is: offices and strata floors in the CBD, Southbank and Docklands, warehouses and factories through Dandenong, Clayton, Tullamarine, Laverton and Campbellfield, retail in Chadstone, Preston, Frankston and Werribee, hospitality across Richmond, Fitzroy and St Kilda, and businesses in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and the Latrobe Valley. The VEU is a statewide program, so regional sites qualify the same way metropolitan ones do, subject to installer availability.
A Victorian business site with existing indoor fluorescent lighting (or eligible outdoor lighting), other than the state’s largest energy users unless they opt in, upgraded through or in partnership with a VEU-accredited provider using approved LED products, installed by licensed electricians, with the required scheme paperwork signed before installation. Owners and tenants can both proceed. Tenants generally need landlord consent for fixed fittings.
The question we get most
Is the “free LED commercial upgrade” in Victoria real?
The discount is real and it is a Victorian government program. What the program promises is an upfront discount on eligible upgrades, not a free installation. Some participating providers offer suitable sites, typically a standard office or shop full of fluorescent battens, a $0 or low-cost upgrade because the certificate value covers their costs. Others quote a co-payment. Neither is guaranteed by the scheme, so the useful question is not “is it free” but “what does the written quote show after the VEU discount”.
What is covered in 2026, and what is not
For indoor commercial lighting, current VEU incentives generally apply where the existing lights are fluorescent: tubes and battens swapped for approved LED panels and battens. Incentives for other indoor lighting types have ended, so a Melbourne warehouse lit by metal halide high bays does not get a subsidised indoor swap in Victoria, even though the same job is subsidised in South Australia. Certain outdoor and non-building lighting, including eligible metal halide lighting in open-air car parks, may still qualify under a separate VEU activity. If your site is a mix, the eligible part still qualifies on its own. Victoria’s largest energy users are excluded unless they opt in.
Two things worth knowing before you get a quote
If you lease your premises, fixed light fittings usually need the landlord’s sign off, and a quick email before anyone comes out saves the most common reason a lighting job stalls after quoting. And the installation has to be done by a licensed electrician using products on the program’s approved list, through or in partnership with an accredited provider (the installer itself is not always the listed provider), so a cheaper quote using unapproved fittings is not eligible, however good the price looks.
Official sources: VEU commercial and industrial lighting discounts and the Essential Services Commission, which administers the program and lists accredited providers.
FAQ
Melbourne LED upgrade questions
The discount is real. It comes from the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) program, which gives eligible business lighting upgrades an upfront discount through accredited providers. Some providers offer suitable sites with fluorescent lighting a $0 or low-cost upgrade, but that is a provider offer, not a program guarantee. Get a written quote showing the VEU discount and any co-payment before you commit.
For indoor commercial lighting, current VEU incentives generally apply where the existing lights are fluorescent. Tubes and battens are swapped for VEU-approved LED panels and battens. Incentives for other indoor lighting types, including high bays and halogen, have ended. Some outdoor and non-building lighting, including eligible metal halide lighting in open-air car parks, may still qualify under a separate VEU activity. The largest energy users are excluded unless they opt in.
Not indoors. The indoor commercial lighting activity now applies where the existing lights are fluorescent, so metal halide high bays inside a warehouse are not subsidised. Outdoor lighting is a separate activity, and eligible metal halide fittings in open-air car parks or yards may still qualify. Some older pages still advertise subsidised indoor high bay swaps in Victoria, so check the date.
It depends on the provider and the site. The VEU gives eligible upgrades an upfront discount funded by the certificates the job creates. Some providers offer suitable fluorescent sites a $0 or low-cost upgrade; others quote a co-payment. The exact figure depends on your fitting count and operating hours, so a written quote showing the discount is the reliable guide.
There is no grant or program you apply for by that name. What people are describing is the Victorian Energy Upgrades program, which is state legislation administered by the Essential Services Commission. You never deal with the government. You deal with an accredited provider, and the certificate value comes off your quote.
Most Victorian business sites with existing indoor fluorescent lighting, or eligible outdoor lighting, to replace: offices, retail, warehouses and factories with fluoro battens, hospitality, medical suites, gyms, schools and childcare, car parks and common areas. Victoria’s largest energy users are excluded unless they opt in. The upgrade must go through or in partnership with a VEU-accredited provider using approved LED products, with the paperwork signed before installation.
Usually yes, but the landlord normally needs to approve it because light fittings are fixed to the building. Most landlords agree, since they end up with newer fittings and pay nothing. Getting that approval early is the difference between a job that proceeds and one that stalls after quoting.
For a typical Melbourne office, shop or small warehouse it is usually a single day, often outside trading hours. Larger multi level or multi site jobs are staged across several visits. The installer photographs the old and new fittings as the scheme requires, and the old fluorescent tubes are recycled.