Electricity and Energy Deputy Minister Samantha Graham-Maré has commended owners of large public and private buildings that have registered their properties for an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).

With the deadline of December 7, 2025, to obtain this document having passed, the department is compiling and verifying all registered buildings and issued EPCs.

“I will continue to engage the different spheres of government and will soon meet with stakeholders in this sector. We must understand, without circumventing the law, why registrations are so low and how we can further assist large building owners in complying with the requirements,” Graham-Maré says.

She emphasises that the continued registration and acquisition of the EPC is imperative, as is it expected to assist large building owners with monitoring and improving their electricity and water use.

Further announcements will be made regarding the next steps for those who have registered but do not yet have an EPC, as well as for those who have not registered at all, Graham-Maré informs.

The EPC is part of the priority of the Department of Electricity and Energy (DEE) and the South African National Energy Development Institute’s to promote energy efficiency through energy efficiency demand side management.

Since the EPCs launch in December 2020, 10 125 buildings have been registered, and 5 569 EPCs were issued as at May 29.

Of these, Gauteng leads with 3 585 registrations and 2 346 issued EPCs.

The Western Cape follows with 2 830 registrations and 2 135 issued EPCs.

The Northern Cape has the fewest, with 96 registrations and 32 EPCs issued.

Buildings registered and issued EPCs in other provinces are 1 329 and 465 in KwaZulu-Natal, 649 and 170 in the Eastern Cape, 478 and 112 in Mpumalanga, 709 and 146 in the Free State, 210 and 98 in Limpopo, and 239 and 65 in the North West.

EPCs indicate the energy performance of a building; serve as regulatory tools/instruments targeting inefficient buildings, encouraging transformation towards energy-efficient buildings; are indicators for building owners to note and change their consumption patterns to benefit financially and comply with regulations; and, in the long term, promote the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions through the implementation of energy efficiency interventions using reliable data from existing EPCs, the DEE says.