Relief for building owners in South Africa
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has gazetted changes to regulations that should make it easier for owners to acquire new mandatory energy performance certifications for their buildings.
Non-residential buildings in South Africa will soon be required by law to display an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) – and building owners or accounting officers could face imprisonment, a fine, or both if they fail to comply.
The regulations were first introduced in 2020 with the aim of having all qualifying buildings adopt the EPCs by December 2022. However, after only a small percentage of buildings had obtained a certificate in time, the deadline was extended to December 2025.
While building owners still have time to comply, the DMRE now wants to make the process a bit easier.
The latest change to the regulations specifies that the EPCs will be able to be issued by registered professionals, not just accredited bodies, after July 2024.
Having the certification process limited to accredited bodies only was previously flagged as one of the bigger hurdles to regulations.
The certificate
The purpose of an EPC is to gauge a building’s energy efficiency. This is done by assigning a score from A to G – with A being extremely efficient and G the least efficient possible.
An EPC is designed to help building owners and accounting officers identify areas to improve energy efficiency. This is in line with global best practices and will ensure that a building remains economically sustainable while also reducing the energy footprint of the building.
According to WrightRose-Innes (WRI), not every non-residential building will need an EPC, however.
The 2020 Regulations – called the Mandatory Display and Submission of Energy Performance Certificates for Buildings under the National Energy Act 34 of 2008 – specify that the following non-residential buildings need to comply:
- Entertainment buildings;
- Buildings used for public assembly;
- Theatrical and Indoor sports buildings;
- Places of instruction;
- Offices.
Buildings in these categories that meet certain thresholds need to comply:
- Government and publicly-owned buildings with an area of 1,000 square metres or more;
- Privately-owned non-residential buildings with an area of 2,000 square metres or more.
In simple terms, this means it is mandatory for privately and publicly owned buildings that fall within the qualifying criteria of the regulations, to obtain and display an EPC, which will be valid for five years from the date of issue .
If the qualifying building fails to display an EPC, the building owners or the presiding accounting officer will be in violation of the law and could be fined up to R5 million, face five years in prison or both.
Changes
Under the previous amendments (published in November 2022) to acquire an EPC, a South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) accredited inspection body had to be the one to evaluate a building and submit documents on behalf of the building owners or accounting officers to the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI).
SANEDI would then assess and verify the information and release an EPC to the SANAS-accredited inspection body, giving the EPC to the building owners or accounting officers.
The building owner or accounting officer would also submit a certified electric copy to SANEDI, which would then be uploaded to the National Building Energy Performance Register (NBEPR).
The latest changes have redefined certain aspects of the regulation, although the requirements are broadly the same.
The EPC now refers to a certificate issued by an accredited body before 31 July 2024; thereafter, a registered professional qualified to certify buildings (under SANS 1544) can also do it. These professionals need to be registered with SANEDI.
The accounting officer for the process will have to register the type and size of the building with SANEDI within 12 months of the promulgation of the regulations.
As before, they must also submit a certificate for every registered building to SANEDI within three months of the issue date, and SANEDI must still maintain this register.
It is important to note that the regulations have still not been promulgated, with the department specifying that they will come into operation on a date proclaimed in a future gazette.
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