Liable entities must surrender their small-scale technology certificates (STCs) by the Quarter 1 (Q1) 2024 deadline of Monday 29 April 2024. 

To avoid a shortfall charge of $65 per certificate not surrendered, ensure you have enough STCs to meet your certificate surrender obligations and surrender by the deadline. 

The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) has no discretion to extend the surrender deadline. 

Steps to complete your STC surrender

Login to your REC Registry account and following these steps.

  1. Select 'Surrender' from the left side panel.
  2. Select 'Liability surrender' from the drop-down menu.
  3. Click the applicable assessment year (2024).
  4. Click the 'STC surrender' icon.
  5. Enter the number of certificates you need to surrender.


How to buy STCs from the STC clearing house

  1. Ensure your REC Registry account details, user permissions and GST details are correct.
  2. Check you have the 'Buy from STC clearing house' permission enabled.
  3. Make your purchase as soon as possible. You will incur a shortfall charge if your buy order payment is not cleared in time to meet your surrender obligations.
  4. Check your payment is to the correct STC clearing house bank account as shown on the clearing house purchase invoice. These details are different to other transactions you may undertake with the CER. This will help avoid any delays to the release of certificates into your account.
    1. Payments can only be made through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). Use the real-time transfer option provided by your bank, otherwise funds can take up to 5 business days to clear.

The REC Registry Guideline explains how to upgrade your existing REC Registry account to include STC clearing house access.

Certificate vintage

Liable entities can only surrender certificates created in the assessment year or earlier. This is the ‘certificate vintage rule’. Generally, STCs purchased from the STC clearing house are not subject to the vintage rule. 

Refer to the examples below on how this may impact your 2024 STC quarterly surrender.

  • Certificates purchased from the STC clearing house in 2024 can be transferred and surrendered to acquit 2024 liability in Q1-Q3, or Q4 before the end of the calendar year. 
  • Any STC clearing house purchases transferred from the original account into a different account in the following year will be stamped with the year created, at the time the transfer occurred. These are not eligible for an exemption to the vintage rule.

More information

Visit Renewable Energy Target liability and exemptions for liable entities under the Renewable Energy Target.

Contact the RET Liability team for support on 1300 553 542 or RETLiability@cleanenergyregulator.gov.au.