Who may connect a gas cooktop

What counts as gasfitting at the bench

The NSW Government defines the two ends of a cooktop connection, and both definitions are worth reading once.

A gas installation means a system of pipes and associated fittings that are designed to convey gas from the meter control valve or other connection point of a gas container to the control valve or other connection point of a gas appliance or another gas container.

A gas appliance means any gas burning or gas using appliance that is manufactured, adapted or designed for connection to a gas installation, whether by means of a gas outlet socket or otherwise.

Put the two together and a cooktop is the appliance at the end of the installation, and the work that joins them is gasfitting, which in NSW means a licensed gasfitter, and a certificate afterwards.

The appliance is certified before it is installed

The paper starts with the appliance itself. All gas appliances must be tested, certified and appropriately labelled before they can be sold and installed in NSW. On the gasfitter's side of the same page: gasfitters are aware that they may only install certified appliances and products.

The certificate you are given, and its clock

When the work is finished, the paper changes hands. After any work involving gas is complete, the licensed gasfitter must give you a: certificate of compliance for network gas or certificate of inspection for bottled gas.

What the certificate is for is stated on the same page: the certificates confirm that a licensed gasfitter has completed the work which complies with the relevant industry standards, and it also protects you against faulty work. It is a personal document as well: the certificate must include the licensee's name and license number.

Which of the two you are handed follows the gas supply. Gasfitters must provide a certificate of compliance when gasfitting work is carried out on a gas installation connected to a gas network.

The two dates that matter

There is a clock on the gasfitter's side of the paperwork. Gasfitters must submit a certificate of compliance or certificate of inspection on the BCNSW eCert portal within 5 business days following any gasfitting work.

And the portal itself became the only door: as of 1 March 2026, gasfitters must use BCNSW eCert to submit certificates of compliance and inspection for all gasfitting work, and all other formats, such as posted or emailed PDFs, will not be accepted.

So a kitchen connected this year has two dates worth knowing: the certificate that must be submitted within 5 business days of the work, and the March 2026 change that put every one of them through the BCNSW eCert portal.

Reading a gas cooktop quote

Four checks fall out of the pages above, each one a line a reader can hold against a quote. Is the person doing the work a licensed gasfitter, since in NSW only licensed gasfitters can undertake repairs or renovations involving gas? Is the appliance one that has been tested, certified and appropriately labelled before sale and installation in NSW? Will the job end with a certificate of compliance for network gas, or a certificate of inspection for bottled gas, handed over by the gasfitter? And does that certificate carry the licensee's name and license number?

The rest of the trail is on the regulator's side: the submission within 5 business days, through the BCNSW eCert portal, under the March 2026 rule.

The electrical equivalent, with its own certificate and its own dates, is in the power point guide. The sink and its plumbing paper are in the sink guide, and the contract that should hold the whole job together is in the quote and contract guide.