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NatHERS Accreditation

Of the three software packages used to show compliance with the house energy rating section of the Australian Building Code, BERS Pro 4.2 110811 was the first software package to fully comply with the NatHERS accreditation procedures including the new NatHERS certificate format. It has been granted full NatHERS accreditation by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.

BERSPro V4.2 110811

The Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, on behalf of the Ministerial Council on Energy’s Energy Efficient Working Group, has advised all State Building Regulatory Authorities that they have accredited BERSPRO v4.2 110811 under the Procedure for accrediting software under the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme Part A – Software incorporating the Australian Government endorsed calculation engine.

BERSPRO v4.2 110811 includes functionality that allows it to be used for both NatHERS and for non-NatHERS accredited purposes. The NatHERS accredited functionality produces NatHERS certificates that are identified by the following features:

  • NatHERS logo
  • the BERSPro logo
  • the BERSPro software version/release numbers version 4.2 release 110811
  • and CHENATH version V2.13

NatHERS Certificate

Cessation of provisional accreditation arrangements

The provisionally accredited version of BERS, ie BERS V4.1 ceased to be accredited on 30 September 2011. The DCCEE recommends that state and territory building regulatory authorities use only accredited certificates issued by BERSPro V4.2 110811 for regulatory compliance after 30 September 2011. Both NSW and Queensland have announced that assessors have until the end of December 2011 to change over to BERSPro V4.2 110811. Certificates issued using BERS V4.1 will not be accepted after the end of 2011.

Training and BERS Pro Updates

As a result of the accreditation procedure a number of important changes have been made to the BERS software. In order to fulfil its obligation to provide the training needed to ensure that BERSPro V4.2 assessors are fully competent in the use of the software Solar Logic has been providing one day training courses throughout Australia. This training continues to be conducted by SmartRate on behalf of Solar Logic with bookings made through the Solar Logic website, http://www.solarlogic.com.au/bers-pro/purchase-training-form

CDs with the full version of the NatHERS accredited software BERSPro V4.2 110811 will be distributed for free at the one day training session. They will not be able to be downloaded from the website because of the training required in its correct use. Those early adopters who have undergone the one day training course using the earlier version of BERSPro V4.2 010311 will be able to update to BERSPro V4.2 110811 from the Update web page. Please note that it is not possble to use this update to change over from BERS Pro V4.1 to V4.2.