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The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act 2024 (EECA 2024, Act 861) is Malaysia's law on energy efficiency for large energy users, large office buildings and energy-using products. Its Regulations came into operation on 1 January 2025. The Act applies to Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territory of Labuan (section 1(3)).
Who the Act applies to
Section 3(1) names three groups:
- Energy consumers whose energy consumption over twelve consecutive months equals or exceeds the threshold. The Regulations set that threshold at 21,600 gigajoules (GJ) (regulation 3).
- Buildings described in the Third Schedule: office buildings. The Commission's guideline covers office buildings with a gross floor area of 8,000 m² or more (GP/ST/No.48/2024, paragraph 4.1).
- Energy-using products specified in the guidelines.
Energy consumption is counted for an activity, business or trade carried out in one place (section 3(5)). Suruhanjaya Tenaga (the Energy Commission) decides who is covered and sends a written notice to each energy consumer and to the person in charge of each building it covers (sections 3(2) to 3(4)). The deadlines below run from that notice.
How the 21,600 GJ threshold is counted
The Commission's Guidelines on Ascertaining Energy Consumer (GP/ST/No.44/2024) explain the method:
- Add up the energy and energy resources you receive from suppliers, measured at one or more measuring points, plus electricity you generate from solar PV or solar thermal (paragraph 4.1).
- Convert each to gigajoules with the coefficients in Appendix A: for example 0.0036 GJ per kWh of electricity and 1.055 GJ per MMBtu of natural gas.
- Leave out energy bought for onward sale or distribution to other persons, and energy resources used as feedstock (paragraph 4.3).
21,600 GJ is about 6,000,000 kWh of electricity a year if electricity is the only energy you use. Our EECA checker does the conversion with the Commission's coefficients.
What an energy consumer must do
Once the Commission's notice arrives, the Act and Regulations set five duties.
1. Appoint a registered energy manager within three months
The energy consumer appoints a registered energy manager (REM) from among its employees within three months of the notice and notifies the Commission electronically (section 5(1), regulation 4). Above 50,000 GJ, the energy manager must meet the additional requirements of regulation 14(2) or (3) (regulation 5). For up to three years from the notice, an energy consumer may instead appoint an energy manager from outside the company who meets those requirements (regulation 6).
The energy manager collects and analyses energy data, makes sure the energy management system is implemented and monitored, prepares the energy efficiency and conservation report and advises on further saving measures (section 5(2)).
2. Develop an energy management system within a year
The energy consumer develops an energy management system within one year of appointing the energy manager, and implements it in line with the Commission's guidelines (section 6, regulation 8).
3. Submit an energy efficiency and conservation report every year
The energy manager prepares the energy efficiency and conservation report: the energy management system, how much energy is used and for what, proposed measures, and measures already taken or still planned (section 7(1)). The first report is due within 30 days after the first year from the energy manager's appointment, then every year on the same cycle (regulation 9).
4. Have an energy audit done by a registered energy auditor
The energy consumer appoints a registered energy auditor to carry out an energy audit (section 8). The auditor prepares the energy audit report following the Commission's guidelines (section 9(1), GP/ST/No.49/2024).
5. Submit the energy audit report within a year, then every five years
The first energy audit report goes to the Commission within one year of the notice, then every five years from the last submission (regulation 10(1)). An energy consumer may apply for an exemption from a subsequent report within the first three months of the fifth year (regulation 10(2)).
Penalties
Failing to appoint an energy manager, to develop the energy management system, to submit the energy efficiency and conservation report or to appoint a registered energy auditor are offences, each with a fine of up to RM50,000 on conviction (sections 5(3), 6(3), 7(4) and 8(4)).
Office buildings
For an office building covered by the Act, the person in charge of the building applies to the Commission for an energy intensity label every year. The first application is due within 30 days after one year from the notice (regulation 11). From the fifth year after the first label, the building's energy intensity performance must be no lower than two stars (regulation 12). In GP/ST/No.48/2024, two stars means up to 200 kWh per m² per year.
The Commission's EECA details page adds that a building which doesn't meet the energy intensity performance standards must undergo an energy audit and implement an energy efficiency improvement plan: the person in charge prepares the plan from the audit, submits it for approval and implements the approved plan. Buildings subject to the Act also have energy audits carried out periodically by a Registered Energy Auditor, and the audit report goes to the Commission.
Where to start
- Check your total. Add up 12 consecutive months of energy use and convert it to GJ, for example with our EECA checker.
- Know your boundary. The guidelines explain how measuring points, sub-meters and energy passed on to tenants or related companies are treated.
- Plan the people. Under these timelines, the energy manager comes first (three months), then the audit report (one year).
- Look at funding for the audit. SEDA Malaysia's Energy Audit Conditional Grant (EACG) offers financial assistance for an energy audit by an ST-registered ESCO to commercial buildings and industrial installations that use at least 100,000 kWh a month. SEDA approves the grants: see who can apply.
2R Control Automation is a Suruhanjaya Tenaga registered ESCO, and its director is a Registered Energy Auditor and Registered Energy Manager (credentials). Talk to us about an energy audit or energy management under EECA 2024.
This guide summarises the Act, the Regulations and the Commission's guidelines as published on st.gov.my in October 2026. It is not legal advice. Check the current texts, which the Commission may revise, before relying on it.