EEG grant for aircon: what your business can actually claim

The Energy Efficiency Grant is the business-side scheme that co-funds energy-efficient equipment, including air-conditioners, for companies registered in Singapore. Enterprise Singapore funds it, sector agencies process it, and applications go through the Business Grants Portal. The scheme was broadened to more sectors at Budget 2024, and it is open now. At Budget 2026, the government extended it by another year, so the current application window for both tiers runs to 31 March 2027. For a business staring at ageing, power-hungry aircon, that window is the planning horizon.

There are two tiers. The Base Tier funds pre-approved equipment at up to 70% for SMEs and up to 30% for larger eligible companies, capped at S$30,000 per company. The official FAQ frames that cap across the whole period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2027, not per year, and multiple applications draw down the same cap. The Advanced Tier serves construction and manufacturing projects that can show more than 350 tonnes of lifetime carbon abatement, with support capped at S$350,000 across both tiers and a third-party assessment attached. An aircon purchase sits in the Base Tier in almost every case.

One announcement matters for businesses outside the current sectors. In April 2026, the government said the Base Tier will expand to all sectors and run until 31 March 2028. The official page adds that details will be shared later in the year, and as of July 2026 those details have not been published. Until they land, a business outside the six listed sectors has nothing to apply under. Marketing that reads as if every office, gym, and clinic can claim today is running ahead of the scheme, and a purchase made on that assumption is just a purchase.

Households sit under a different scheme entirely. Climate Vouchers cover home aircon purchases for eligible households, and they cannot be stretched across business premises. Keep the two apart when reading quotes, because the rules, the caps, and the claim routes share nothing beyond the energy label on the box. A director buying for the shop cannot use the household vouchers, and a household cannot ride on the company grant.

Six sectors can currently apply: construction, data centres, food services, manufacturing, maritime, and retail. Air-conditioners appear on the supported equipment lists for three of them: food services, manufacturing, and retail. For the other three, the lists cover machinery like excavators, servers, and forklifts instead. The sector test follows the SSIC code on the ACRA record, primary or secondary, not the signboard above the shop. A cafe that never updated its registration details should check that record before planning anything around the grant.

The baseline criteria repeat across sectors. The business must be registered and operating in Singapore, hold at least 30% local shareholding, and keep group annual sales turnover at S$500 million or below. Food services applicants sit under SSIC 56 or 68104 and also need a valid SFA licence. Sole proprietors and partnerships can apply on the same terms. Home-based businesses cannot, and neither can charities, religious entities, government bodies, or societies. The equipment itself must be used in Singapore.

The support rate depends on company size. The published rate is up to 70% for SMEs and up to 30% for non-SMEs. The EEG pages do not restate the SME test. The standard definition Enterprise Singapore uses across its schemes is group annual sales turnover of not more than S$100 million, or group employment of not more than 200 people. A company between that line and the S$500 million ceiling still qualifies, just at the lower rate, and the maths of a replacement changes accordingly.

Different agencies sit behind the same portal. Food services and retail applications are handled on the Enterprise Singapore side, while manufacturing aircon queries route to NEA, and GoBusiness publishes a step-by-step guide for the Base Tier application. Expect to produce supporting documents: quotations for the equipment, financial statements, and, for rented premises, a current tenancy agreement showing operations at the address. Companies exempt from audit can submit unaudited statements or management accounts, so a small F&B outfit is not blocked by the paperwork tier.

The Base Tier does not fund any efficient-looking unit. It funds models on a published pre-approved list, and the technical bar for aircon is specific: 5 ticks for single and multi split systems, and a minimum of 3 ticks for 3-phase variable refrigerant flow systems. The ticks refer to the NEA energy label on the registered model, the same rating system printed on units sold for homes. An inverter badge, a green brochure, or a salesperson's assurance meets no part of that test, and the processing agency checks the model, not the pitch.

The list is model-specific and keyed on outdoor units. Indoor units are supported when they are compatible and packaged with a pre-approved outdoor unit, so the outdoor model number is the one that decides the claim. Most major brands sold in Singapore appear, including Daikin, Mitsubishi Electric, Panasonic, LG, Midea, Toshiba, and Samsung, alongside smaller names like EuropAce and TCL, so this is not a premium-brand club. A brand appearing is not the same as the quoted model appearing, because each brand has listed and unlisted models side by side in its catalogue. The list also moves; the version live at the time of writing was updated in July 2026.

This is where quotes go wrong. A vendor writes "grant-eligible" beside a 5-tick unit, the buyer takes the phrase at face value, and the model turns out to sit outside the current list. The scheme does not bend for what the brochure said. Before applying, match the exact outdoor unit model number on the quote against the current list on GoBusiness, character for character, suffix included. If the model is not there, ask for one that is, or take the grant out of the maths and judge the quote on its own weight.

The list screens efficiency, nothing else. The listing page itself states that pre-approval is not an endorsement or recommendation by the agencies, and it reminds companies to do their own due diligence on vendors. Whether the system is sized for the floor, piped correctly, and installed cleanly is a separate question the grant never touches. Direct purchase, hire purchase, and lease are all accepted payment modes, so the financing route does not disqualify a claim either.

The grant covers the equipment purchase and nothing around it. The official FAQ is direct: only the actual purchase of the equipment is supportable, and delivery fees and installation are excluded. On an actual replacement job, that splits the invoice. The hardware line can be co-funded. The labour, piping, trunking, electrical work, and disposal lines cannot, and on commercial premises those lines are a meaningful share of the total. A quote that bundles everything into one number makes the split hard to prove at claim time, so ask for the hardware itemised on its own line.

It is also a reimbursement, not a discount at the counter. The business pays the vendor in full, installs the equipment, and then claims through the portal. The claim pack includes the invoice, payment records, the delivery order, photos of the installed equipment at the premises, and serial numbers where applicable. Disbursement comes only after the claim is approved, so the full purchase amount passes through company cash flow first. A tight quarter is the wrong time to discover this.

Run one worked example before deciding. Take a multi-split replacement quoted at S$12,000 for pre-approved hardware and S$4,000 for installation works. For an SME, 70% support on the hardware line comes to S$8,400, comfortably inside the cap. The installation line stays with the business in full. The company pays S$16,000 to the vendor, claims once the system is installed and photographed, and receives S$8,400 after approval. Net cost lands at S$7,600, and the gap between payment and disbursement is the number to plan around, not the sticker discount.

The cap arithmetic is worth doing early too. S$30,000 is the ceiling per company for the Base Tier across the whole window, however many applications are filed. At 70% support, that ceiling absorbs a serious share of the hardware for a shop or a mid-sized F&B floor. A large VRF project will overshoot it, and the balance stays with the business. Supported equipment also carries a holding period of at least one year from final claim approval, so it cannot be resold or shifted to another site quickly.

The sequence is strict. Apply on the Business Grants Portal first, before any money moves, because the project must not have commenced at the point of application. A payment or deposit made to the vendor before submission makes the application retrospective, and the FAQ says retrospective applications will not be supported. This is the most expensive mistake in the scheme, and it happens at the deposit stage, weeks before anyone thinks about claims. A vendor pressing for a booking fee to hold a promo price is asking the business to disqualify itself.

Processing usually takes 4 to 10 weeks once documents are complete. After approval, the business has up to one year to purchase, install, and submit the claim. The claim due date sits inside the portal, one extension is allowed before it lapses, and once it has lapsed the system closes the claim for good. Buying after submission but before the outcome is permitted at the company's own risk: if the application fails, nothing can be claimed. That timeline deserves honesty. A compressor on its way out in a dining room does not always have a grant cycle in it, and sometimes the sound decision is to replace first and let the grant go.

The vendor rules protect the business, so use them. Vendors are strictly not allowed to submit applications on behalf of applicants, and the FAQ bars any incentive tied to the purchase: complimentary items must be rejected and returned. Related companies cannot act as the vendor, and relationships must be declared. After approval, the vendor cannot be swapped without terminating the application and starting again. A seller who offers to "settle the grant for you" is describing something the scheme itself forbids.

Eligibility has to hold at the claim stage too; if local shareholding drops below 30% between approval and claim, the claim fails. The last check is not administrative at all. The grant changes the price of the right system, it does not choose the system. Sizing against the floor area, the heat load of the kitchen or shopfront, the state of the existing piping, and the condition of the electrical runs still decide what the premises needs. Settle that first, then let the grant do its part of the arithmetic.