Skills Maintenance

About Skills Maintenance

Skills maintenance training is required for all electrical licences. It takes a total of eight hours of in-person training at a specialist training centre or TAFE.

You must complete Skills Maintenance training within the two years before your licence renewal is due. Extensions of time to complete the training may be available in some circumstances.

Your training consists of roughly 60% hands-on training and 40% theory.

The training is:

• specific to every class of licence
• based on professionally prepared materials
• delivered in a classroom environment at selected training centres across Victoria.

CPD Skills Maintenance helps you to:

• keep your knowledge and skills current and relevant
• reduce complacency
• improve safety outcomes.

It covers matters such as licence holder's responsibilities, current regulations and standards, isolation and testing, mandatory testing methods, equipment and tools, and more.

Participants have found the training practical, easy to understand and very useful. Many also enjoyed meeting colleagues, swapping ideas and experiences and discussing the course content.

There is no 'exam' to pass at the end of your CPD Skills Maintenance session, but your trainer may highlight to you any areas where your skills could be improved.

Skills Maintenance courses for all licence classes are now available, however some of the specialist licence classes may have limited delivery.

Details on CPD training availability are constantly being updated on the Energy Safe website, or you can contact us at licensing@energysafe.vic.gov.au for any clarification.

ESVConnect and licence renewals

All licence applications, renewals of electrical licences and electrical contractor registrations must be made on ESVConnect. To find out more, visit ESVConnect(opens in a new window)

You will receive several reminders from ESVConnect in the two years before your licence renewal is due.

You will not be excused from attending CPD training, and your licence renewal will be put at risk if either:

• you are not registered with ESVConnect
• your details are not current.

If you do electrical work without a current licence you are breaking the law and serious penalties apply.

Extensions for CPD Skills Maintenance Training

In certain circumstances Energy Safe may consider an extension of time for you to complete your CPD Skills Maintenance training se. We will only grant extensions in limited circumstances, which we will assess on a case-by-case basis.

Professional or personal circumstances that may be eligible for additional time include, but are not limited to:

• physical or mental illness, injury or disability
• pregnancy or parental leave
• carer’s leave
• loss or bereavement
• domestic or family violence leave
• gender affirmation leave
• living or working outside Victoria
• military deployment, including Reservists
• other circumstances beyond your control (e.g. natural disaster, including response or recovery).

Extensions are also available if your particular CPD skills maintenance course has limited availability due to the small cohort of licence holders, for example switchgear licence holders or specialist LEI classes.

As a general principle, living and/or working in remote locations (within Victoria) or financial hardship are not adequate grounds for an extension of time.

CPD is available from a range of metropolitan and major regional centres across Victoria and should be available during evenings and weekends for anyone unable to attend during normal business hours.

Additionally, the Victorian Government has committed that no licence holder will need to pay for their course for the first round of licence renewals.

How to apply:

You can request an extension at the same time as your licence renewal. Your licence can be renewed up to 90 days before its expiry date.

To request an extension, you need to log into ESVConnect and lodge your renewal application via the ‘Renew Licence’ button on your licence profile.

During the renewal application, you will be asked if you have completed your CPD skills maintenance requirement. Here you will need to select the option ‘Not yet, I am requesting an extension'.

Proceed with completing the renewal application and ensure that you attach supporting documentation to support your CPD skills maintenance extension request (refer to the ‘Supporting evidence‘ section below).

We aim to advise you of the outcome of your request within 21 days.

If you are granted an extension, we will typically renew your licence for the usual 5 years but with a condition that you must complete the applicable CPD skills maintenance training course within a specified timeframe of up to 12 months.

If you do not complete the applicable CPD skills maintenance course within the specified timeframe, we may suspend or cancel your licence until you do, unless special circumstances continue to apply. If special circumstances continue to apply, you will need to make a request for a further extension.

Further extension requests

We generally apply a higher threshold for further extension requests given the length of time you have had to complete the required CPD skills maintenance and its purpose to keep you, other workers and communities safer.

For example, it is generally not adequate grounds to obtain a further extension on the basis that you live or work outside Victoria. If you require a licence to continue working interstate, you should either apply for the equivalent licence in that state or complete the required CPD skills maintenance course to retain your Victorian licence.

Supporting evidence

You may be required to submit evidence to verify your reason for requiring the extension of time. Examples of the types of evidence you may be required to submit are in the table below:

Transitional Arrangements

During the introductory stage of CPD skills maintenance, licence holders whose electrical licence was due for renewal between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024, were able to access a 12 month extension to complete their CPD skills maintenance course. This was to ensure that all licensed electrical workers had at least two years to complete their CPD skills maintenance course following the training becoming available.

If you were granted an extension of time under the transitional arrangements, you are still eligible to apply for a further extension under special circumstances. The granting of a transitional extension has no effect on your application for an extension under special circumstances.

Exemptions from CPD Skills Maintenance Training Courses

You may be eligible for an exemption from all or some of the CPD skills maintenance requirements if you have completed an activity that we accept as being equivalent to your applicable CPD skills maintenance course, or you have added a class to your licence shortly before renewal. We will only grant exemptions in limited circumstances, which we will assess on a case-by-case basis.

Activities or circumstances that may be eligible for an exemption include, but are not limited to:

• Completion of the ‘CPD Train the Trainer’ course at any time and delivering skills maintenance CPD at the minimum frequency as outlined in the CPD for renewal of electrical licences policy .
• Completion of independent licensing assessments in the 2 years immediately before licence renewal as follows:
  • Electricians who have completed the Licensed Electricians Assessment in its entirety, which includes the Licensed Electricians Theory, the Licensed Electricians Practical, and the Safe Working Practice assessments.
  • Holders of a Class G or L electrical inspector licence who have completed the G class independent assessments in their entirety, which includes the G Class Theory, the G Class Practical, and the Safe to Approach.
    
• Adding a class to your licence in the 2 years immediately before licence renewal. Any exemption granted will only be for CPD skills maintenance related to the class that was added, not for CPD related to existing classes.
  
• Completion of courses that are substantially similar to your applicable CPD skills maintenance course, such as those that may apply from time to time for electrical licences in another state or territory. The course must have been completed in the 2 years immediately before your licence renewal. An overview of the topics covered are listed below. Please note that as the Victorian CPD skills maintenance courses include topics specific to Victorian legislation, it is unlikely an interstate course will fully address all the topics. However partial exemptions may be considered in these circumstances.

How to apply:

You can request an exemption up to 12 months before your licence expiry date. To request an exemption, you need to log into ESVConnect and lodge your request for exemption via the ‘Apply for CPD Exemption’ button. Follow the prompts and ensure that you provide the details of your exemption request and attach supporting documentation. (refer to the ‘Supporting evidence‘ section below).

We aim to advise you of the outcome of your request within 21 days.

If you are granted an exemption, we will update your profile in ESVConnect so that you can renew your licence as if you had completed the applicable CPD skills maintenance course.

Supporting evidence

Evidence requirements will vary depending on your reason for applying for the exemption:

• If you are a CPD skills maintenance trainer, please supply a letter from your employer (RTO) that identifies the number and type of CPD skills maintenance sessions you have delivered in the two years prior to your licence expiry date, Energy Safe will confirm your completion of the ‘train the trainer’ with Future Energy Skills.
• If you are applying based on recently completing the licensing examinations, please upload your LEA or LEI results.
• If you have added a class to your licence in the 2 years immediately before licence renewal, for example, REL changing from Class 2 to Class 1, or an LEI adding a specialist class, you will not need to apply for the exemption. This will be granted automatically on ESVConnect.
• If you are applying based on completion of a similar course, please submit documentation that demonstrates the content of the course you completed. For an exemption to be considered on the basis of similarity to Victorian Skills Maintenance CPD, your course will need to include the topics below.
  
  The CPD Skills Maintenance courses vary by licence class. Most include:
  • Your responsibilities as a licence holder under Victorian legislation
  • Major changes to Acts, Regulations and standards
  • Safe Isolation
    
    Other licence specific inclusions are:
    
  • Mandatory testing (for electricians)
  • Fault finding (for Restricted Electrical Licence holders Class 1)
  • Safe to Approach (for LEIs)

If you are applying based on other evidence, please upload all relevant documentation.

Different CPD requirements

CPD requirements vary for different classes of electrical licence. See CPD for different licence classes

What happens after you have finished your CPD?

Your training provider will advise Energy Safe that you have completed the program, and your record will be updated. Note: this may take 24 to 48 hours. You will also receive a completion email from Future Energy Skills.

Read about how you can enquire about this process – see CPD FAQs

The Skills Development program will be introduced in 2024.

Read more:

• Skills Development
• Find CPD training providers
• For information about extensions and exemptions to completing the training see CPD FAQs