Claiming BESS Certificates (PRCs) — BridgeSelect Documentation

A battery job in NSW can earn Peak Reduction Certificates (PRCs) under the NSW Peak Demand Reduction Scheme (PDRS). The scheme has five battery activities – BESS1 to BESS5 – and each one is for a different kind of site. This guide walks through the whole process: what to enter, in what order, how Bridge Select decides which activities your site is allowed to claim, and what to do when a tab tells you it cannot be claimed.

PDRS is a NSW scheme. If the installation address is outside NSW, every battery activity is unavailable and the tabs will say “Site not in NSW. PDRS does not apply.” The federal BSTC (Cheaper Home Batteries) claim is separate and is not restricted to NSW – see BSTC alongside a BESS claim.

⚡️ 1. Work out which activity your site can claim

Every battery activity is defined by the type of site it is installed at, and by the PDRS rated capacity of the battery. You do not have to memorise this – Bridge Select works it out from what you enter and unlocks only the tabs your site qualifies for – but it helps to know where you are heading before you start.

Activity	What it claims	Eligible site	Usable capacity band	Minimum payment
BESS1	Installing a new battery	Government owned and managed site, or delivered through an Exempt Energy Program. Private-home and small-business installs were suspended from 1 Jul 2025, so today a house opens BESS2 and nothing else.	> 2 kWh and < 28 kWh	Net ≥ $200 (excl. GST), per battery unit. Not required where the job is delivered through a Low-income Energy Program or an Exempt Energy Program.
BESS2	VPP onboarding, not the install	BCA Class 1 dwelling or small business site.	> 2 kWh and ≤ 50 kWh (incentive capped at 28 kWh)	None
BESS3	Installing a new battery	BCA Class 2 apartment building, minimum 4 dwellings. Battery must be installed outdoors.	> 20 kWh and ≤ 200 kWh, and not more than 6× inverter output	Net ≥ $1,000 (excl. GST)
BESS4	Installing a new battery	Small business, commercial / industrial, or government site. Not a home, not an apartment building, not a data centre.	> 20 kWh and ≤ 200 kWh, and not more than 6× inverter output	Net ≥ $5,000 (excl. GST)
BESS5	Installing a new battery	Commercial / industrial or government site. Not a home, not an apartment building, not a small business, not a data centre.	> 200 kWh and ≤ 30,000 kWh (incentive capped at 10,000 kWh), and not more than 6× inverter output	None

The band column above is only the capacity test. Each activity also carries its own requirements in the checklist, which do not change whether the tab unlocks but do have to be met:

BESS2 needs a VPP/DR contract of at least 12 months signed by the account holder, and can be claimed once per NMI only.
BESS3 needs at least 4 individual dwellings, and caps the creditable capacity at 5 kWh per dwelling.
BESS4 and BESS5 require the new solar PV to be at least ¼ of the PDRS rated capacity, whenever the job records new solar PV going in within 90 days of the battery.
BESS5 must be tested to UL9540A at module or unit level.

BESS1 depends on when the battery went in. The scheme has run BESS1 in three windows: implementations from 1 Nov 2024 to 30 Jun 2025 covered single-dwelling residential and small business; the activity was suspended from 1 Jul 2025 to 30 Jun 2026; and from 1 Jul 2026 it is limited to government owned and managed sites or delivery through an Exempt Energy Program. Bridge Select reads the installation date on the job and opens or refuses BESS1 on that basis, so a back-dated job behaves differently from one dated today.

New solar PV also changes the rate. On BESS3, BESS4 and BESS5 the certificate count is worked out at a higher rate when new solar PV is part of the job – see section 7.

One activity per site. A site can claim only one of BESS1, BESS2, BESS3, BESS4 or BESS5. The single exception is BESS4 + BESS2 at a small business – install under BESS4 and onboard the same battery to a VPP under BESS2 on the same job. If you tick one activity, the others tell you which one is already claimed and ask you to untick it first.

Why BESS2 is different. BESS2 claims the VPP onboarding, not the installation. That can be done to a battery that has been on the wall for two years, or to one installed this morning. So BESS2 is the one activity that does not depend on the battery installation type – which is why a home battery installed today (claimed federally as BSTC) can still be onboarded under BESS2 on the same job.

⚡️ 2. Create the job and enter the customer

Log in to your Bridge Select portal, go to the Jobs section and click Create. Fill in the pop-up and click Create again.

On the 1. Customer Details tab, enter the owner details and the installation address. The state must be NSW for any BESS activity to be available. Enter the NMI here too – several activity questions are asked “at this NMI”. Click Save & Next page.

The job opens on 1. Customer Details. The wizard tabs run across the middle; the claim summary sits in the header.

⚡️ 3. System Details: date, battery, inverter

Everything the PRC calculation needs lives on the 2. System Details tab. Fill it in in this order – each field feeds the next.

Set the Installation Date. Nothing can be calculated without it: the calculation is held back and the PRC widget shows “Please select the installation date first. PRCs cannot be calculated without it.” The date also decides whether the battery and inverter models you pick are inside their approval window, which version of the scheme rules the job is assessed under, and whether BESS1 is available at all.

Installation Date is the first field on 2. System Details, and every PRC calculation depends on it.

Choose Select battery installation type: New, Replacement or Existing. New and Replacement are both treated as a new install (BESS1/3/4/5); Existing means the battery is already there and only BESS2 – the VPP onboarding – is available.

Add the battery: brand, model, series, number of units, and the usable / nominal capacity. An activity will not unlock until the battery is on the job, because there is nothing to test the capacity band against.

Which capacity figure the scheme uses. Every PDRS capacity band, the 6× inverter test, the quarter-of-capacity solar test and the PRC count are measured against PDRS rated capacity (kWh) in the job header, which is 90% of the total nominal capacity and is calculated for you. That is not the same as the Usable capacity shown on the battery card, which is the manufacturer's own figure and is used by the federal BSTC claim only. If the nameplate figure is wrong, correct it with Edit Capacity on the battery card and the scheme figure recalculates.

Add the inverter in Inverter Details. BESS3, BESS4 and BESS5 cap PDRS rated capacity at 6× the inverter output, and the PRC formula caps the creditable capacity at 4× it, so those three activities cannot be calculated properly without an inverter on the job. If one is missing, the widget says “Please add the inverter details first.” and warns that the count shown is uncapped, so it is higher than it should be until you add one.

The inverter card (rated power) and the battery card (usable and nominal capacity) on System Details.

Check the figure being used. The total inverter output Bridge Select is applying is shown read-only as Battery inverter output (kW), next to the property type. If it does not match the inverter you entered, fix it in Inverter Details – that is the number the 6× band test is applied to.

⚡️ 4. Set the property type – this unlocks the tabs

Still on System Details, set Property type (for BESS). This is the single most important answer on the job: it decides which activities the site can claim, and the activity tabs below unlock from it. Until it is answered, every tab says “Select a property type (for BESS) above.”

Property type (for BESS) and the read-only inverter output, with the activity tabs below: BSTC eligible, BESS2 and BESS3 N/A, BESS4 enabled.

Property type	Activities it opens
Residential (house / Class 1)	BESS2
Apartment building (Class 2, 4+ dwellings)	BESS3
Small business premises	BESS4, BESS2
Commercial / industrial	BESS4, BESS5
Government-owned site	BESS1, BESS4, BESS5
Data centre	None – data centres are excluded from all battery installs

This table is for a job being installed today. A job whose installation date falls in the earlier BESS1 window, 1 Nov 2024 to 30 Jun 2025, also opens BESS1 for a residential or small business site.

Residential does not mean BESS1. New private-home battery installs have been suspended under PDRS since 1 July 2025, and from 1 July 2026 BESS1 is limited to a Government owned and managed site or an Exempt Energy Program pathway. So a house opens BESS2 only. The install itself is normally claimed federally as BSTC, and BESS2 claims the VPP onboarding on the same job.

⚡️ 5. Open the activity tab and read the verdict

Open the tab for the activity you are claiming. A tab your property type does not allow is greyed out. A tab that is allowed shows an ELIGIBLE pill once the battery is inside that activity's capacity band.

Read the coloured line under the PRC widget. It always tells you exactly one thing – the next thing standing between you and the claim:

What it says	What to do
Select a property type (for BESS) above	Answer the property type. Nothing can be assessed before it.
Add battery model(s) to set the nominal capacity	Add the battery on System Details.
A capacity band message, e.g. “Commercial battery BESS4 band: 20–200 kWh, ≤ 6× inverter.”	The battery is outside the band for this activity. Check the PDRS rated capacity and the inverter output, or claim the activity whose band it does fall in.
BESS4 cannot be claimed: BESS1 is already claimed on this job…	Only one activity per site. Open the other tab and untick it first.
This job is INSTALLED, so BESS4 cannot be claimed	See Nomination form – after the job is started, the activity can only be claimed if its nomination form is already signed.
Complete the … items in the checklist	Answer the outstanding questions in Required to Enable BESSn Checkbox.
All requirements met. You can claim BESS4.	Tick the checkbox.

⚡️ 6. Work through the requirement checklist

Each tab carries its own checklist on the right, grouped into Site, Equipment, Installation, Aggregator and Payment. Some rows are questions you answer; others go green on their own once the matching field elsewhere on the job is filled in.

Only the Site rows gate the checkbox. The group headed “Required to Enable BESSn Checkbox” is what must be met before you can tick the claim. The remaining rows still have to be completed before the job is submitted, but they do not stop you claiming now.

Answers are shared where the same question applies to more than one activity – answer “Internet-connectable & DRA-controllable” in BESS4 and BESS5 shows the same answer. Typical rows:

Site – is there an existing BESS at this NMI; has there been a prior BESS4 or BESS5 at this site; for BESS3, at least 4 individual dwellings.
Equipment – on the approved product list; internet-connectable and DRA-controllable; 10-year warranty with ≥ 70% usable capacity retained; for BESS5, tested to UL9540A.
Installation – installed in accordance with AS/NZS 5139; an approved installer selected in the Installer field; planning and network approvals received; for BESS3, installed outdoors.
Payment – goes green on its own once the Financial payment you enter meets that activity's minimum.

✅ The solar PV question (BESS4 and BESS5)

Where a job installs new solar PV within 90 days of the battery, BESS4 and BESS5 require that new solar PV to be at least a quarter of the PDRS rated capacity. The row only appears once the job says new solar PV is going in. At the bottom of those two tabs is a short Solar PV section that collects the figure:

Answer “Has a solar PV system ever been installed at this address, even one that was removed years ago?”
Answer Yes and you are asked for the Installation type – Replacement, Extension or Additional system – and the Additional solar PV capacity being installed (kW). A short blue note explains what the type you picked means.
Answer No and the requirement is checked against the job's System Size (kW) instead.

This question is the same one asked on 3. Install Details – they share one answer, so filling it in on either side updates the other. The checklist row tells you the target it is measuring against, for example “Enter the new solar PV capacity – 10.13 kW or more”.

The BESS4 requirement checklist (green = met, red = outstanding) beside the Solar PV question, with the installation type and capacity filled in.

⚡️ 7. Claim the activity and calculate the PRCs

Tick the BESSn checkbox on the activity's payment widget. The widget opens up and the certificate count and payment fields become available.

Enter the Financial payment – the net amount paid by the purchaser, excluding GST. The Payment row in the checklist turns green as soon as it meets the minimum for that activity ($200 for BESS1, $1,000 for BESS3, $5,000 for BESS4; BESS2 and BESS5 have no minimum).

Click Recalculate. The Number of PRCs is worked out and saved against the job. Recalculate again after any change to the installation date, the battery, the inverter or the distributor network – all four feed the figure.

A claimed BESS4: the ticked checkbox, the PRC count, Financial payment and Recalculate, with the nomination form, factsheet and requirement checklist beneath.

If the count will not calculate, the widget names the field that is missing rather than saying the job is ineligible. The two it will not proceed without are the installation date and, for BESS3/4/5, the inverter. Fill the named field in and the message clears by itself.

⚡️ 8. Nomination form and consumer factsheet

Once the activity is claimed, the customer has to assign their certificate rights to you. Both buttons sit with the activity, in the red BESSn Nomination Form block:

SIGN DIGITAL FORM REMOTELY – sends the customer a link to sign the nomination form online.
UPLOAD PRE SIGNED FORM – upload a form the customer has already signed on paper.
Consumer PDRS Factsheet – the factsheet for that activity, which you can show or Email Documents to the customer.

Claim before the installer starts. An activity can be claimed while the job is NEW or ASSIGNED. Once the job is STARTED or INSTALLED, it can only be claimed if its nomination form has already been signed. Deciding the activity and getting the nomination signed early avoids a job that cannot be claimed at all.

⚡️ 9. Install Details, photos and declarations

On 3. Install Details, select the Installer – several checklist rows are waiting on it (an approved / SAA-approved installer is a requirement of every activity). Complete the rest of the section and click Save and Next page. The job is now assigned to that installer, who can open it in the app.

On 4. Documents & Photos, check the mandatory photos the installer captured, and collect the customer declarations under Customer Signatures. A separate declaration is shown for each activity the job claims.

4. Documents & Photos, where the installer's uploads and the customer declarations are checked.

Complete 5. Retailer Declaration, then click Check Information & Save. Any checklist row still outstanding on a claimed activity will be reported here.

⚡️ 10. BSTC alongside a BESS claim

BSTC is the federal Cheaper Home Batteries claim (SRES), and it is separate from PDRS. It has its own tab, its own inputs and its own count, and it is not restricted to NSW. A job can hold BSTC and a PDRS activity at the same time – the common pairing is a home battery claimed federally under BSTC and onboarded to a VPP under BESS2.

Usable capacity 5–100 kWh is eligible; certificates are created on the first 50 kWh installed.
The rate is the federal STC rate set by the Clean Energy Regulator, and it declines each year – which is why the installation date matters here too.
BSTC has no PDRS minimum payment.

Because BSTC has its own inputs, it still calculates when a PDRS activity is being held back for a missing installation date – so a BSTC count next to a blank PRC count is not a fault.

⚡️ 11. Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause and fix
Every activity tab is greyed out or says PDRS does not apply	The installation address is not in NSW. PDRS is a NSW scheme; only BSTC is available.
All tabs say “Select a property type (for BESS)”	Property type (for BESS) on System Details has not been answered. Nothing is assessed until it is.
The tab I want is greyed out	The property type does not allow it – check the table in step 4. A tab stays open while its activity is still claimed, so you can always get back in to untick it.
The PRC count sits on “Calculating…” or stays blank	An input the calculation needs is missing. The widget names it: the installation date, or the inverter for BESS3/4/5.
The checkbox will not tick	Something in the Required to Enable BESSn Checkbox group is still unanswered, or another activity is already claimed, or the job has moved past ASSIGNED without a signed nomination form. The line under the widget says which.
The battery is inside the band but BESS4/BESS5 still will not go green	Check the 6× inverter output cap. Compare the PDRS rated capacity against the Battery inverter output (kW) figure shown next to the property type.
Unticking an activity warns that a certificate will be removed	That is expected – unclaiming clears the certificate and its related fields from the job. The confirmation tells you what will be lost before you commit.

For platform support, contact the BridgeSelect support team.

Still need a hand?

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.

Contact the BridgeSelect Support Team