Amendments to Energy Conservation Act 2023 effective on 1 December 2025 to introduce minimum energy efficiency standards for all existing energy systems in industrial facilities

25 March 2025

Pursuant to the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act 2024, the Energy Conservation Act 2012 (“ECA”) will be amended with effect from 1 December 2025 primarily to introduce minimum energy efficiency standards (“MEES”) for all existing energy systems in industrial facilities.

The Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill (“Bill”) was passed in Parliament on 11 November 2024. Set out below are some key points from the opening speech by Baey Yam Keng, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and the Environment, at the second reading of the Bill.

Brief background and phased implementation

The ECA was enacted in 2012 to introduce mandatory energy management practices for energy-intensive industrial facilities. The ECA was then enhanced in 2017 to strengthen energy management practices and introduce MEES for industry systems. Section 26B was introduced to stipulate MEES for energy-consuming industry systems. These MEES sought to target energy efficiency improvements in phases at the system level, as opposed to the equipment-level:

  • Phase 1: The National Environmental Agency (“NEA”) announced the MEES for chilled water systems in December 2019. The first phase of MEES was implemented for chilled water systems, by requiring new industrial facilities operational on or after 1 December 2020 to conform to MEES.
  • Phase 2: The second phase of MEES is now ready for implementation for chilled water systems, by applying the requirements to existing energy-intensive industrial facilities, which account for about 80% of Singapore’s primary energy consumption. They will need to conform to MEES by 1 December 2025.
  • Phase 3: All remaining industrial facilities, which are less energy-intensive and not currently regulated under the ECA, will have a longer runway to conform by 1 December 2029 under Phase 3.

Funding, schemes, and grants

To help the industry offset the capital cost of retrofitting their chilled water system, companies can tap on existing Government schemes such as the Economic Development Board’s Resource Efficiency Grant for Emissions (“REG(E)”) and Energy Efficiency Grant (“EEG”), before the mandatory requirements kick in. Large manufacturing companies can apply for the REG(E) to adopt energy efficient equipment or technologies including retrofitting their chilled water system. Small and medium-sized enterprises can tap on the EEG funds to offset the cost of complying with MEES for their chilled water system. They will receive a higher tier of support of up to 70%, capped at S$350,000 under the EEG Advanced Tier.

Overall, the MEES for chilled water systems is estimated to help reduce energy consumption in industrial facilities by at least 245 GWh annually, equivalent to taking more than 21,000 cars off the road. NEA will continue to adopt the consultative approach that was used to develop the MEES for chilled water systems.

Reference materials

The following reference materials are available on Singapore Statutes Online sso.agc.gov.sg and the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment website www.mse.gov.sg: