While businesses in SA have been given a three-year reprieve to obtain and display a new Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) – time is running out to register building details, which needs to happen before the end of this year.  All non-residential buildings in SA will soon be required to show an EPC, with non-compliance resulting in building owners or accounting officers facing five years imprisonment, a R5m fine, or both.  An EPC is aimed at helping building owners and accounting officers identify areas that need to improve energy efficiency.  This is to ensure that a building remains more economically sustainable while also lowering the energy use of the building.  Last year, the deadline to display an EPC was extended from 7 December 2022 to 7 December 2025.

Although commercial owners were relieved by the extension, Minister of Mineral Resources & Energy, Gwede Mantashe, only extended the cut-off date to obtain and display a valid EPC to 7 December 2025. The amended regulations said that commercial building owners ‘must register the type and size of a building and its energy performance to the National Building Energy Performance Register maintained by SANEDI within 12 months of the promulgation of these regulations’ – which is 25 November 2023.

The certificate must record the energy rating of the building with a letter between A to G, with A very efficient and G inefficient.  The South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) must inspect the building and issue the certificate.  The requirement is in respect of government buildings with a floor area that exceeds 1,000m2 and in respect of privately-owned building with a floor area that exceeds 2,000 m2.