EECA 2024 Crucial Amid Industrial Expansion, Rising Energy Demand - ST

By Harizah Hanim Mohamed

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 (Bernama) -- The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act (EECA) 2024 plays an important role in managing future electricity demand, allowing the country to plan its generation capacity while ensuring energy security and affordability.

Energy Commission (ST) director of technical policy and regulation division Zulkiflee Umar said improving energy efficiency is increasingly important amid rising electricity consumption, particularly from energy-intensive industries such as data centres.

He said buildings, which also account for a significant share of electricity consumption, are now covered under the Act's regulatory framework to ensure more efficient energy use.

"We have (energy) generation, we have (power) transmission, we have (energy) consumption. So for the generation part, we have a variety of ways to generate clean energy, solar and so on.

“But we also have to manage our demand," he told Bernama on the sidelines of the National Awareness Conference on EECA 2024 here today.

He said if energy demand is not properly managed, new electricity generation facilities would need to be constructed every two to three years, which is impractical given the time required to develop such facilities.

Citing a thermal power plant as an example, Zulkiflee said it would take at least five years to complete its construction.

Managing energy consumption efficiently would enable electricity demand to remain manageable, allowing generation capacity to be planned in a way that ensures energy security and affordability, he added.

According to ST's presentation, a total of 562 notices had been issued to regulated energy consumers as of Nov 1, 2026.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY REQUIREMENTS FOR BUILDINGS

Zulkiflee said the Act also introduced energy efficiency requirements for buildings. 

“We know that we need to regulate buildings, given their significant numbers and the amount of energy they consume,” he explained.

Under EECA 2024, energy efficiency requirements currently apply to  office buildings with coverage expected to be extended to commercial and non-domestic buildings, including shopping complexes, hospitals, hotels, malls, and data centres, in the subsequent phases of implementation.  

The Act, which came into force on Jan 1, 2025, is an extension of the Efficient Management of Electrical Energy Regulations 2008, with additional requirements, including mandatory energy management systems and energy audits once every five years.

"The threshold has been changed from kilowatt-hour to gigajoule because now it covers all energy. We don't use kilowatt-hour anymore," he said.

ENFORCEMENT AND INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT

On the implementation of EECA 2024, Zulkiflee said ST would further strengthen enforcement and awareness programmes to encourage regulated energy consumers to comply with the Act.

"We are going to carry out enforcement on that, because of course there is a three-month period given under EECA to appoint a registered energy manager.

"It takes about five to six years for its implementation to really mature. So we have to speed up our enforcement and create more awareness like what we did today," he said.

Zulkiflee said punitive actions could be taken against those who failed to comply with the three-month deadline for appointing registered energy managers.

Meanwhile, ST has outlined a five-year industry energy efficiency development plan for 2026 to 2030, which includes the development of benchmarking tools and methodology, stakeholder consultations and benchmarking studies for specific industry sectors.

The plan is expected to culminate in the first phase of voluntary energy efficiency benchmarking  in 2030.

Earlier, ST deputy chief executive officer Roslee Esman said the emphasis on energy efficiency was not simply on reducing energy consumption, but on understanding how energy is used, identifying opportunities for improvement and ensuring that these enhancements can be measured and sustained.

"Extensive industrial expansions, the digitalisation of our economy and the growth of energy-intensive facilities, including data centres, are contributing to increasing energy demand year by year.

"Meeting this demand requires not only a reliable energy supply, but also a more efficient use of the energy available to us," he said during his keynote address earlier.

Beginning November 2026, a series of National Awareness Conferences on EECA 2024 will be held across five zones in Malaysia to engage stakeholders and deepen their understanding of the Act and its requirements.

-- BERNAMA