The Government is providing grants of up to $25,000 for small and medium food and beverage manufacturing enterprises to improve energy efficiency practices and technologies and better manage energy consumption to reduce their power bills.

Applications for Energy Efficient Communities (EEC) Program – Food and Beverage Manufacturing Business Grants are open now and will close at 5pm AEDT on Friday, 18 February.

The Government has set out which businesses are eligible for the grant and all applicants must have an Australian business number and be one of the following:

  • an entity incorporated in Australia
  • a private company
  • a public company
  • an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust
  • a co-operative
  • an incorporated, not-for-profit organisation
  • an indigenous corporation
  • a sole trader
  • a partnership.

The Government also said it will only accept applications:

  • from food and beverage manufacturing businesses, whose main activity is classified under one of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classifications listed in the table in 4.2 of the grant opportunity guidelines
  • from small and medium sized enterprises with an employee headcount from 1 to 199 employees averaged over any consecutive 12 month period since 1 July 2019. We may ask you to provide evidence of your calculation
  • where you certify that the project is supported by your board (or chief executive officer or equivalent if there is no board) and that you can complete the project and meet the costs of the project not covered by grant funding
  • certify that you have consent from the facility owner or their representative to undertake the project, if you are not the facility owner.

The objective of the grant opportunity is to support small and medium sized food and beverage manufacturing enterprises to save energy by:

  • replacing existing equipment with more energy efficient equipment
  • installing or replacing components to help existing systems run more efficiently
  • carrying out energy audits
  • monitoring and optimising energy use and emissions
  • increasing knowledge of energy efficiency practices, and
  • positioning small and medium sized enterprises to adopt future technological advancement in energy consumption.

For full details on eligibility criteria and how to apply for the grants head to the Government’s grants and programs website.

Andy Young

Andy joined Intermedia as Editor of The Shout in 2015, writing news on a daily basis and also writing features for National Liquor News. Now Managing Editor of both The Shout and Bars and Clubs.

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