Become a Professional House Energy Rater with HERA

Become a professional House Energy Rating Assessor

About Energy Assessors

NatHERS Accredited Assessors are professionally recognised energy assessors who are qualified in conducting house energy ratings using NatHERS Accredited Software.

Find out more about NatHERS

In detail…

Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) Star Ratings are conducted by professionals using purpose-built software for a number of purposes, including:

To meet the mandatory energy efficiency requirements for homes and major renovations based on the National Construction Code
To advise home owners, architects and builders on the energy efficiency of various house designs
To advise prospective home buyers on the thermal performance of a home they are interested in buying

As a NatHERS Accredited Assessor, you will join the hundreds of other energy raters across Australia who are recognised as professionals in their field. You will also receive support to ensure that your home energy ratings are conducted in a reliable and consistent way.

You will provide essential skills such as:

thermal resistance and capacitance of building materials
window glazing values
occupancy patterns (including internal heat loads, typical occupancy times and occupancy behaviour)
window coverings (which are standardised for all ratings, noting they are likely to change of the life of the building)
different types of zones in the house and whether they are conditioned/unconditioned
thermostat settings (temperatures at which artificial heating/cooling is no longer required to achieve thermal comfort, noting this varies depending on climate zone)
local climate and weather (including temperature, humidity, wind and sun)
shadowing/overshadowing by adjacent buildings and features
size of the building being assessed (noting smaller buildings generally have a larger wall surface area than bigger buildings)

In detail…

The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) provides homes with a star rating out of ten based on an estimate of a home’s potential (heating and cooling) energy use. By providing a ‘measuring tape’ for energy efficiency, NatHERS helps to make Australian homes more comfortable for their inhabitants and help residents to save on energy bills through smarter design choices. Often good design can reduce the amount of energy needed to keep a home comfortable with no or little additional construction cost.

NatHERS is administered by the Department of the Environment and Energy on behalf of the states and territories.

NatHERS promotes the benefits of increasing thermal performance of homes, as this can often be achieved with no or little additional construction cost. Through its inclusion in the National Construction Code, NatHERS is used by state and territory governments to reduce the greenhouse gas impacts of residential buildings.

By providing a ‘measuring tape’ to estimate a home’s potential heating and cooling energy use, NatHERS helps to make Australian homes more comfortable for their inhabitants and also helps residents to save on energy bills through smarter design choices.

Often good design can reduce the amount of energy needed to keep a home comfortable with no or little additional construction cost.

About NatHERS

Find out more about NatHERS

Requirements for Accreditation

How to become a professional NatHERS accredited House Energy Rating Assessor.

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In detail…

To become and maintain accreditation as an accredited House Energy Rating Assessor you must;

apply to become a member of an Assessor Accrediting Organisation (AAO).
have successfully completed the Certificate IV in NatHERS assessment (CPP41212) or Certificate IV in Home Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (CPP41119)
notify the AAO of any current or previous accreditation with another AAO
nominate to the AAO the software tools you will use
agree to be subject to a Quality Assurance (QA) review within their first 12 months of accreditation
agree that you will comply with AAOs Assessor Code of Ethical Practice
complete at least 12 CPD points in each year of accreditation, where one point equals at least one hour of time spent undertaking the CPD
maintain professional indemnity insurance commensurate with the volume and scope of the work they undertake
agree to conduct assessments in accordance with the latest NatHERS Technical Note, in compliance with your jurisdiction’s application of the NCC and using the NatHERS Universal Certificate
agree that you will conduct your Assessments in a way which ensures the health and safety of yourself, and others, so far as reasonably practicable and which complies with all relevant workplace health and safety laws in the Jurisdictions in which you operate.

In detail…

New entrants into the industry must now obtain a Certificate IV in Home Energy Efficiency and Sustainability qualification (CPP41119). Course details can be found by searching for the Certificate IV in Home Energy Efficiency and Sustainability or “CPP41119” on the MySkills website.

The Certificate IV has a national focus, as it is recognised under the Australian Qualifications Framework, allowing assessors to work anywhere across Australia. Training organisations are able to deliver the course through the Vocational Education and Training system.

The current training providers in Australia offering Certificate IV in Home Energy Efficiency and Sustainability qualification (CPP41119) training to become an accredited NatHERS assessor are.

Education In Building

Transformed

Wodonga TAFE

Training providers

Certificate IV in Home Energy Efficiency and Sustainability ‘CPP41119’ can be found on the MySkills website.

Go to My Skills

Accredited Software

The rating software tools accredited under the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) are AccuRate, BERS Pro and FirstRate5.

HERA Membership

In detail…

NatHERS house ratings use computer simulations to determine the potential thermal comfort of Australian homes on a scale of zero to 10 stars. The more stars, the less likely the occupants will need cooling or heating to stay comfortable.

There are four software tools accredited under NatHERS, each with different user interfaces and functions. If you are completing energy ratings in accordance with NatHERS methods, you will need to decide which tool best meets your needs.

Obtaining a NatHERS rating at the required star level is specified in the National Construction Code (NCC) (link is external) as one of the ways of demonstrating compliance with the energy efficiency (thermal performance) requirements for new houses and apartments.

There are currently four software tools accredited for use under NatHERS:

AccuRate Home v1.3.3.23 SP1

BERS Pro v5.1.7 (3.22) (3.21)

FirstRate5 v5.5.5

HERO v4.0

In detail…

To become and maintain accreditation as an accredited House Energy Rating Assessor you can apply to become a member of HERA, a NatHERS Assessor Accrediting Organisation (AAO) registered throughout Australia.

When you apply to HERA you must also

have successfully completed the Certificate IV in NatHERS assessment (CPP41212) or Certificate IV in Home Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (CPP41119)
notify HERA of any current or previous accreditation with another AAO
nominate to HERA the software tools you will use
agree that you will comply with HERAs Assessor Code of Ethical Practice
agree to conduct assessments in accordance with the latest NatHERS Technical Note, in compliance with your jurisdiction’s application of the NCC and using the NatHERS Universal Certificate
agree that you will conduct your Assessments in a way which ensures the health and safety of yourself, and others, so far as reasonably practicable and which complies with all relevant workplace health and safety laws in the Jurisdictions in which you operate.

NatHERS Accredited Assessor

How to become a professional NatHERS accredited House Energy Rating Assessor

Join HERA

If you have any questions, Feel free to give us a call!

As an accredited NatHERS House Energy Rater and member of HERA, you will get access to a wide range of services including professional support to help you manage, operate and grow your business.

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HERA

HERA | House Energy Raters Association Incorporated Phone: 0447099392 | ABN: 38 631 648 925

The House Energy Raters Association represents members throughout Australia.