Compliance by state

Electrical safety testing and reporting in the ACT

The Electricity Safety Act 1971 (ACT) requires electrical wiring work to be tested under AS/NZS 3017 and, within 14 days of the test, a report given to both the construction occupations registrar (Access Canberra) and the installation's owner. There is no separate certificate document. Maximum penalty for not testing or reporting: 5 penalty units, $800 for an individual at the current rate.

Last checked 25 Sep 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this page.

Official name: No named certificate. The Act requires a report of the test of electrical wiring work under section 6 of the Electricity Safety Act 1971
Regulator: Construction occupations registrar, administered through Access Canberra
Who issues it: The person who carried out and tested the electrical wiring work
When: Any electrical wiring work covered by the Act. Connecting a new installation, or reconnecting one disconnected for 6 months or more, also needs inspection by a licensed inspector first
Deadline: Report of the test given to the construction occupations registrar and the installation owner within 14 days after the test
Lodgement: Given directly to the construction occupations registrar and to the owner of the installation. No customer-facing certificate document is prescribed by the Act
Keep records for: The registrar can request a further copy of the report up to 2 years after receiving the original, to be supplied within 14 days of the request
Penalty: Not testing the work properly, or not reporting within 14 days: up to 5 penalty units ($800 for an individual at the current $160 unit value). Connecting a new or long disconnected installation without inspection: up to 50 penalty units, imprisonment for 6 months, or both ($8,000 for an individual).

Homeowner? If you own an ACT property that has had electrical wiring work done, you should receive a test report within 14 days. Ask for a copy if you have not seen one, since the construction occupations registrar gets a copy too.

What the certificate must show

That the work was tested to AS/NZS 3017 as in force at the time of the test
That the work complies with the electrical wiring rules in force when the test was carried out
The date of the test
The installation the report relates to
Enough detail for the owner and the registrar to identify who carried out and tested the work

Recent change

Republication No 34 of the Electricity Safety Act 1971, effective 16 December 2025, incorporates the last amendment made by Act A2025-29.

Produce it from a ServiceM8 job

In Settings > Forms > Add Form, create a form called ACT test report, with Date tested, AS/NZS 3017 test results and Complies with wiring rules as mandatory questions.
Add a Choice question New installation or reconnection after 6+ months disconnected, Yes or No, to flag jobs that need the section 4 inspection step before connection.
Set a job badge, ACT electrical report due, with a due date 14 days from Date tested, so the office can see reports approaching the deadline.
Build a Word template that lays the answers out as a report, addressed to both the property owner and the construction occupations registrar.
Email the report to the owner from the job diary the same day it is generated, and keep a dated log of when each copy went to the registrar.
Keep the job diary PDF for at least 2 years so a registrar request under section 6(3) can be answered inside its 14 day window.
Run a test job through the form, the badge deadline and the emailed report before your electricians rely on it for real ACT jobs.

A report to the government, not a certificate to the customer

Every other state in this cluster centres its electrical paperwork on a certificate the contractor hands the customer. The ACT does it differently. Under section 6 of the Electricity Safety Act 1971, a person who carries out electrical wiring work must ensure the work is tested in accordance with AS/NZS 3017 as in force when the test is carried out, and complies with the electrical wiring rules at that time. Within 14 days after the test, the tester must give a report of the test to both the construction occupations registrar, the ACT government office administered through Access Canberra, and the owner of the installation the work was done on.

There is no ACT document called a certificate of electrical safety in the Act itself. What the ACT calls a certificate in public-facing material is this test report, and its two recipients (the registrar and the owner) are what makes the ACT's model a government reporting model rather than a customer-facing certificate model.

Connecting a new or long disconnected installation needs an inspector

Section 4 of the Act adds a separate offence: connecting a new electrical installation, or reconnecting one that has been disconnected for 6 months or more, to the network before it has been inspected, tested and passed by an inspector. This is closer to Victoria's prescribed work inspection than to a simple self-certified test, but it only applies to new connections and long dormant reconnections, not to every job.

The registrar can ask for the report again

Section 6(3) lets the construction occupations registrar ask, in writing and within 2 years of receiving the original report, for another copy of it. The person who did the work then has 14 days to hand it over. That 2 year window is the practical retention period: keep the test report on file at least that long, even though the Act does not use the word retention.

What non compliance costs

Not testing the work properly, or not sending the report within 14 days, carries a maximum penalty of 5 penalty units under section 6. Connecting an uninspected new or long disconnected installation is a much heavier offence under section 4: up to 50 penalty units, imprisonment for 6 months, or both. At the ACT's current penalty unit value the 5 unit offence is $800 for an individual and the 50 unit offence is $8,000, with the corporate rate roughly five times higher on both.

Sources

A person who carries out electrical wiring work commits an offence if the work is not tested in accordance with AS/NZS 3017 as in force when the test is carried out and does not comply with the electrical wiring rules when the test is carried out, or if a report of the test is not given to the construction occupations registrar and the owner of the installation within 14 days after the test. Electricity Safety Act 1971 (ACT), s 6(1) (republication 34, effective 16 December 2025), checked 25 Sep 2026.
Maximum penalty for an offence against section 6 (testing and reporting of electrical work): 5 penalty units. Electricity Safety Act 1971 (ACT), s 6(1), checked 25 Sep 2026.
If the construction occupations registrar asks, in writing and within 2 years of receiving a test report, for a copy of that report, the person who gave the report commits an offence if they do not give a copy to the registrar within 14 days of the request. Electricity Safety Act 1971 (ACT), s 6(3), checked 25 Sep 2026.
A person commits an offence if they connect a new electrical installation, or reconnect an electrical installation that has been disconnected for 6 months or more, to an electricity network before it has been inspected, tested and passed by an inspector. Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units, imprisonment for 6 months, or both. Electricity Safety Act 1971 (ACT), s 4, checked 25 Sep 2026.
At the republication date (16 December 2025), the value of a penalty unit for an offence against the Electricity Safety Act 1971 is $160 for an individual and $810 for a corporation, under the Legislation Act 2001, section 133. Electricity Safety Act 1971 (ACT), About this republication, penalties note, checked 25 Sep 2026.