Tradie Forms: finish the addendum with the certificate before you leave site, so the battery, EV, solar and inverter details never get left out of the record. These guides help NT sparkies keep certificates clean; the same on-site habits apply as we add more Australian trade templates.
You have just commissioned a battery and inverter on a Darwin job, the certificate of compliance is going into your triplicate book, and there is nowhere in the book to write down the make, model, serial number, and chemistry that the law now wants. That is exactly the gap the NT electrical certificate of compliance addendum fills. It is a supplementary page that carries the extra detail the old hard-copy books cannot hold, and it goes out attached to the certificate.
This guide covers when the addendum is required in the Northern Territory, what each section records, and who the completed certificate and addendum have to reach.
If you are writing one up today, open the NT electrical certificate of compliance addendum. Browse other NT electrical forms, or if the call was an urgent fault, the NT emergency after-hours repairs certificate covers that job instead. Read the after-hours repairs certificate guide before the next urgent reconnection job.
When do you need the NT CoC addendum?
New electrical safety laws commenced in the Northern Territory on 1 July 2024. Electrical work is now regulated under the Electrical Safety Act 2022 and the Electrical Safety Regulations 2024. Under section 41 of the Act, an electrical contractor or worker who does electrical work must complete a certificate of compliance certifying that the work was tested to be safe from electrical risk and complies with the Act and the standards adopted by the regulations.
NT WorkSafe approved several ways to record that certificate: an online form, a downloadable PDF, and the hard-copy triplicate certificate books that remain an approved form under the law. The online and downloadable versions already have fields for battery, EV, solar and inverter detail. The triplicate books do not. So if you are still working from a book, the addendum is how you capture the additional information the Act requires for those work types without switching your whole process.
That means the addendum is not a separate certificate and not something you lodge on its own. It is a companion page. The certificate of compliance still does the certifying, and the addendum carries the technical detail that the book has no line for.
The certificate number this addendum belongs to
The first thing the addendum asks for is the certificate of compliance number it relates to. This is the CC number from the triplicate book you are already filling out on the job. Writing it here is what links the two documents, so anyone reading the addendum later can match it back to the certificate that certified the work.
Get this number right. It is what links the addendum back to the certificate that certified the work.
The work you completed
Next the addendum records when the work was finished, the type of work, and a plain description of what you did. The completion date matters because the retention clock and the customer handover window both run from it, and because the certificate is a dated record of the state of the installation on that day.
The work type is a set of tick boxes for the categories that trigger the addendum: energy storage system, EV connection point, solar photovoltaic, and inverter. Tick every one that applies, because a single job often covers several. A hybrid solar and battery install with its own inverter and a garage EV point touches all four, and each one has its own section to complete below.
The description is where you write what was actually installed in words a reviewer can follow. Keep it to the work, not the quote title. "Installed a 13.5 kWh battery, 5 kW hybrid inverter and labelled DC isolators" tells the story. "Solar upgrade" does not.
EV connection point detail
If the job included an EV charging connection point, this section records how many connection points you installed and the charging capacity of each, plus the charger make and model. A single 7.4 kW Type 2 point reads differently from three points sharing a load-managed supply, and the capacity figure is what a later reviewer uses to check the circuit and protection were sized for the load.
The addendum also lets you attach a broad-view location photo of the connection point. A photo of where the charger sits and how it is fed is the kind of evidence that settles a question months later without a return visit, so add it while you are standing in front of the unit.
Solar photovoltaic work
For solar PV work, the addendum takes a description of what the array and its associated wiring involved. This is where you record the panel arrangement, the DC side work, and the isolation and shutdown arrangements you installed and labelled.
Solar and inverters overlap on most jobs, and the NT regulator has flagged that DC isolators built into some solar PV inverters have their own certification history worth checking. Describe the isolation you actually installed rather than assuming the reader knows the product, and complete the inverter section below for the inverter itself.
Energy storage system detail
Battery and energy storage system work carries the most detail because the equipment matters to anyone who inspects or services it later. The ESS section records a description of the work, the battery chemistry, the make, model, and serial number, and a location photo.
Chemistry is asked separately because it drives the safety rules that apply. A lithium iron phosphate unit and another lithium chemistry are treated differently for placement and signage, so the value on the addendum needs to match the unit on the wall.
Make, model, and serial number identify the exact unit installed. The serial number in particular is what ties the record to the physical battery, which matters for recalls, warranty, and any later fault. Read it off the unit rather than the delivery docket, because the two do not always agree.
The location photo does the same job here as it does for the EV point. A broad view of where the battery is installed, its clearances and its signage is far easier to capture on the day than to reconstruct from memory.
Inverter detail
The inverter section records a description of the inverter work, the make and model, the serial number, and a location photo. On a solar and battery job this is the third piece of the picture: the array, the storage, and the inverter that ties them to the installation.
As with the battery, the serial number is the field that identifies the actual unit. Record it from the nameplate, note where the inverter sits relative to the switchboard in the description, and attach the photo so the commissioned arrangement is on the record.
Sending and keeping the certificate
Completing the addendum is only half the job. The certificate of compliance and the addendum have to get to the right people, and a copy has to be kept.
Section 41 of the Electrical Safety Act 2022 requires the certificate of compliance to be given to the required recipients within 20 business days after the work is completed. If you are working from a hard-copy book, NT WorkSafe directs contractors to email scanned copies of the certificate to the regulator and to the relevant network operator, which for most of the Territory is Power and Water at powerconnections@powerwater.com.au. Attach the completed addendum to the certificate every time, so the battery, EV, solar and inverter detail travels with the document it belongs to rather than being left behind in the book.
Then keep a copy. NT WorkSafe says electrical contractors must retain the certificate of compliance for at least five years from the date the work was completed. Store the addendum with it. Five years is a long time to rely on memory, and the whole point of recording the make, model, serial number and photos is that the record stands on its own when someone needs it.
One recent change worth knowing: from 1 January 2026, a like-for-like replacement of an existing electrical fitting or appliance with a similar one at the same location is exempt from the certificate of compliance requirement under the amended section 42. The exemption only applies where the replacement is at the same location and does not alter the supply conductors or circuit protection, so check the current NT WorkSafe guidance before you decide a job does not need a certificate.
How Tradie Forms helps
Tradie Forms turns the addendum into sections you work through one at a time that follow the order of the official layout. You enter the certificate number, the completion date, the work types, and the description, then work through only the EV, solar, ESS and inverter sections that apply to the job. The battery chemistry, makes, models and serial numbers each have their own field, so nothing gets crammed into a single line or skipped.
Your business and licence details are saved and reused, so you are not retyping them on every job. The form flags missing fields before you download, which is what catches the empty serial number or the blank chemistry before the certificate goes out. You attach the broad-view photos for the EV point, battery and inverter, preview everything mapped onto the official PDF layout, then download the finished addendum to send with the certificate and keep with the job.
Tradie Forms maps your entries onto the official layout. The licensed electrician still checks the work, the certified details, and the downloaded PDF before it goes to the client, NT WorkSafe and Power and Water.
Start the NT electrical certificate of compliance addendum on site, or browse more NT electrical forms for the rest of your Territory paperwork.
Official references
Check the NT WorkSafe electrical certificate of compliance addendum form for the current version, the NT WorkSafe certificate of compliance information for who to send it to and how long to keep it, and the Electrical Safety Act 2022 for the certificate requirement itself. Confirm network lodgement with Power and Water, and read the NT WorkSafe technical update on like-for-like replacements before relying on that exemption. Requirements can change, so use the current NT WorkSafe guidance and your own licence conditions rather than an old process.
