Energy Performance of Buildings (Amendment) Regulations, 2026

L.N. 153 of 2026

BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION AUTHORITY ACT

(CAP. 623)

Energy Performance of Buildings (Amendment) Regulations, 2026

IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred by article 17 of the

Building and Construction Authority Act, the Minister responsible for

the construction industry, after consultation with the Building and

Construction Authority Board, has made the following regulations:-

(1) The title of these regulations is the Energy Citation and

Performance of Buildings (Amendment) Regulations, 2026 and these scope.

regulations shall be read and construed as one with the Energy S.L. 623.01.

Performance of Buildings Regulations, hereinafter referred to as the

"principal regulations".

(2) The scope of these regulations is to transpose Directive

(EU) 2023/2413 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18

October 2023 amending Directive (EU) 2018/2001, Regulation (EU)

2018/1999 and Directive 98/70/EC as regards the promotion of energy

from renewable sources, and repealing Council Directive (EU) 2015/

652.

Sub-regulation (2) of regulation 2 of the principal Amends

regulation 2 of

regulations shall be amended as follows

the principal

regulations.

(a) immediately after the definition "development

permission application" there shall be added the following new

definition

" "Directive (EU) 2023/1791" means Directive of the

European Parliament and of the Council of 13 September

2023 on energy efficiency and amending Regulation (EU)

2023/955 (recast);";

(b) immediately after the definition "energy from

renewable sources" there shall be added the following new

definitions

" "energy from renewable sources produced nearby"

means energy from renewable sources, produced within a

local or district-level perimeter of a particular building,

which fulfils all of the following conditions

(a) it may be distributed and used only within

that local and district-level perimeter through a

dedicated distribution network;

(b) it allows for the calculation of a specific

primary energy factor valid only for the energy from

renewable sources produced within that local or

district-level perimeter; and

(c) it may be used on-site through a dedicated

connection to the energy production source, where

such dedicated connection requires specific

equipment for the safe supply and metering of energy

for self-use of the building;";

(c) immediately after the definition "energy performance

of a building (EPB)" there shall be added the following new

definition

" "entrusted party" means a legal entity with delegated

power from Government or another public body to develop,

manage or operate a financing scheme on behalf of

Government or any other public body;";

(d) immediately after the definition "existing building"

there shall be added the following new definition

" "final customer" means a natural or legal person who

purchases energy based on a direct, individual contract with an

energy supplier;";

(e) immediately after the definition "non-residential

building or premises" there shall be added the following new

definition

" "on-site" means within or on a particular building,

or on the land on which that building is located;";

(f) immediately after the definition "prospective buyer or

tenant" there shall be added the following new definition

" "public bodies" means national, regional or local

authorities and entities directly financed and administered

by such authorities which do not have an industrial or

commercial character;";

(g) in the definition "useful floor area" the words "that

building category." shall be substituted by the words "that

building category;" and immediately thereafter there shall be

added the following new definition

" "waste heat and cold" means unavoidable heat or

cold generated as a by-product in industrial or power

generation installations, or in the tertiary sector, which

would be dissipated unused into air or water without access

to a district heating or cooling system, where a

cogeneration process has been used or will be used or

where cogeneration is not feasible.".

Immediately after sub-regulation (3) of regulation 7 of the Amends

principal regulations there shall be added the following new sub- regulation

the principal

regulation

regulations.

"(4) Final customers for electricity and natural gas shall

be provided by their suppliers with competitively priced

individual meters that accurately reflect the final customer’s

actual energy consumption and that provide information on the

actual time of use

(a) where a new connection is made in a new

building or a building undergoes major renovations, as

established in this regulation, competitively priced

individual meters shall be provided in all such cases;

(b) where in the assessment of the competent

authority, multi-apartment or multi-purpose buildings

supplied from district heating or district cooling, or

buildings with their own common heating or cooling

systems become prevalent, the Regulator for Energy and

Water Services shall establish transparent and publicly

available national rules on the allocation of the cost of

heating, cooling and domestic hot water consumption in

such buildings, in order to ensure transparency and

accuracy in the accounting for individual consumption

Provided that where the competent authority

determines that multi-apartment or multi-purpose buildings

supplied from district heating or district cooling, or

buildings with their own common heating or cooling

systems have become prevalent, the Regulator for Energy

and Water Services shall be informed of such decision and

the competent authority shall provide the said Regulator

with all the relevant information and data for reaching such

a decision.".

Regulation 8A of the principal regulations shall be

amended as follows

(a) immediately after sub-regulation (2) thereof there

shall be added the following new sub-regulations

"(2a) An updated version of the initial version

of this strategy shall be published by the

c o m p e t e n t a uthority every three (3) years, to

be reckoned from the date of the publication of the

initial version. The updated versions shall also be

submitted by the competent authority to the Minister

responsible for the Climate Action Authority for

inclusion in Malta’s integrated national energy and

climate plans required by Regulation (EU) 2018/1999

of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11

December 2018 on the Governance of the Energy

Union and Climate Action, amending Regulations

(EC) No 663/2009 and (EC) No 715/2009 of the

European Parliament and of the Council, Directives

94/22/EC, 98/70/EC, 2009/31/EC, 2009/73/EC, 2010/

31/EU, 2012/27/EU and 2013/30/EU of the European

Parliament and of the Council, Council Directives

2009/119/EC and (EU) 2015/652 and repealing

Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 of the European

Parliament and of the Council.

(2b) The competent authority shall require the

use of minimum levels of energy from renewable

sources produced on-site or nearby, in new buildings

and in existing buildings that are undergoing major

renovation or a renewal of the heating system in

accordance with these regulations, where this is

economically, technically and functionally feasible.

The minimum levels may be fulfilled through

efficient district heating and cooling where it is

demonstrated that this is technically and

economically feasible. In the case of existing

buildings, the minimum levels shall apply to the

Armed Forces only to the extent that their application

does not in any manner conflict with the nature and

primary purposes of the activities of the Armed

Forces, and shall not apply to materials used

exclusively for military purposes.

(2c) The Minister shall contribute to the

achievement of the indicative share of renewable

energy by promoting the use of renewable heating

and cooling systems and equipment and may

furthermore promote innovative technology, such as

smart and renewable-based electrified heating and

cooling systems and equipment, complemented

where applicable, by smart management of energy

consumption in buildings.";

(b)

immediately after sub-regulation (3) thereof there

shall be added the following new sub-regulations

"(4) (a) Without prejudice to regulation 8, the

competent authority shall take cost-effective measures,

including deep renovations and measures t o i n f l u e n c e

t h e b e h a v i o u r change of occupants, in order to achieve

an amount of energy savings in eligible buildings owned

and occupied by public bodies, which are at least

equivalent to those required by paragraph 1 of Article 6 of

Directive (EU) 2023/1791, which amount of such energy

savings shall be reported annually to the Minister

responsible for the Climate Action Authority.

(b) The competent authority shall estimate the

energy savings referred to in paragraphs (1) to (4) of

Article 6 of Directive (EU) 2023/1791 by using appropriate

standard values for the energy consumption of reference

public bodies before and after renovation and according to

estimates of the surface area of their stock. The categories

of reference public bodies shall be representative of the

stock of such buildings.

(c) The Minister responsible for the Climate Action

Authority shall notify to the European Commission the

measures that are planned to be adopted, demonstrating

how they would achieve an equivalent improvement in the

energy performance of the public bodies.

(d) For the purposes of establishing the equivalence

between the savings required to be achieved in accordance

with sub-regulation (1) and the energy savings referred to

in paragraphs (1) to (4) of Article 6 of Directive EU 2023/

1791, the competent authority in collaboration with the

Lands Authority, shall establish and make publicly

available an inventory of heated and, or cooled buildings

occupied by public bodies with a total useful floor area

over 250m 2 , excluding buildings exempted pursuant to

paragraph 2 of Article 6 of Directive EU 2023/1791,

containing the following information

the floor area in metre squared (m 2 ); and

(i)

(ii) the energy performance of each building

or relevant energy data.

(e) The c o m p e t e n t authority shall encourage

public bodies, including social-housing bodies governed

by national law, with due regard to their respective

competences and administrative set-up to

(i) adopt an energy efficiency plan, whether

as a stand-alone plan or as part of a broader climate

or environmental plan, containing specific energy

saving and efficiency objectives and measures, with a

view to fulfilling the exemplary role of public bodies

as established in this sub-regulation;

(ii) put in place an energy management

system, including energy audits, as part of the

implementation of their plan;

(iii) use, where appropriate, energy service

companies and energy performance contracting to

finance renovations and to implement plans a i m e d

at maintaining or improving energy efficiency in

the long term.".

Regulation 10 of the principal regulations shall be amended

as follows

(a) immediately after sub-regulation (1) thereof there

shall be added the following new sub-regulations

"(1a) The competent authority shall ensure that

public buildings at national, regional and local level serve

as an exemplary role with regard to the share of renewable

energy used, in accordance with these regulations and

Article 6 of Directive (EU) 2023/1791.

(1b) The competent authority may allow that

obligation to be fulfilled, inter alia, by providing for the

roofs of public or mixed use private-public buildings to be

used by third parties for installations that produce energy

from renewable sources, including by coordinating with the

Lands Authority in respect of buildings which are owned

by the Government.";

(b) immediately after sub-regulation (4) thereof there

shall be added the following new sub-regulations

"(5) The competent authority shall introduce

measures in its building codes and regulations and, where

applicable, in support schemes, to increase the share of all

kinds of energy from renewable sources in the building

sector, in particular energy produced on-site or nearby. The

Minister after consultation with the Building and

Construction Authority Board may take into account,

where applicable, national measures relating to substantial

increases in renewables self-consumption, in local energy

storage and energy efficiency, relating to cogeneration and

major renovations which increase the number of nearly

zero energy buildings and buildings that go beyond the

minimum energy performance requirements provided for in

regulation 5. These requirements shall apply to the Armed

Forces only insofar as their application does not conflict

with the nature and primary aims of military activities, and

shall not apply to material used exclusively for military

purposes.

(6) The competent authority in its building

regulations and codes, or other competent authorities by

other means having equivalent effect, shall require the use

of minimum levels of energy from renewable sources in

new buildings and in existing buildings that are subject to

major renovation, insofar as this is technically, functionally

and economically feasible, and reflecting the results of the

cost-optimal calculation carried out pursuant to regulation

6,provided that this does not negatively affect indoor air

quality.

(7) It shall be permitted for the minimum levels to

be fulfilled, inter alia, through efficient district heating and

cooling systems using a significant share of energy from

renewable sources and waste heat and cold.".

Immediately after sub-regulation (4) of regulation 11 of the Amends

principal regulations there shall be added the following new sub- regulations

of the principal

regulation

regulations.

"(5) The Minister shall use all appropriate measures, tools

and incentives, including energy labels developed under

Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 of the European Parliament and of

the Council of 4 July 2017 setting a framework for energy

labelling and repealing Directive 2010/30/EU, energy

performance certificates established pursuant to regulation 12,

and other appropriate certificates or standards developed at

European Union or national level, and shall ensure the provision

of adequate information and advice on renewable, highly energy

efficient alternatives, as well as on financial instruments and

incentives available to promote an increased replacement rate of

old heating systems and an increased transition to solutions

based on renewable energy.".

Immediately after sub-regulation (3) of regulation 33 of the

principal regulations there shall be added the following new sub-

regulations

"(4) The competent authority, the Minister responsible for

the Climate Action Authority and entrusted party shall provide

information on available energy efficiency mechanisms and

financial and legal frameworks, which information shall be

transparent and widely disseminated to all relevant market

actors, such as consumers, builders, periti, engineers,

environmental and energy auditors and installers of building

elements and shall provide information to banks and other

financial institutions on possibilities of participating, including

through the creation of public and, or private partnerships for

the financing of energy efficiency improvement measures.

(5) The Minister responsible for the Regulator for Energy

and Water Services shall establish appropriate conditions for

market operators to provide adequate and targeted information

and advice to energy consumers on energy efficiency.

(6) The Minister responsible for Energy, with the

participation of stakeholders, including local and regional

authorities, shall promote suitable information, awareness-

raising and training initiatives to inform citizens of the benefits

and practical aspects of implementing energy efficiency

improvement measures.".

€0.72