Electric Fence Compliance

The DO’s & DON’Ts of Electric Fence Compliance as well as a few things to look out for regarding the compliance for your fence.

When you DO require a Certificate of Compliance for your Electric Fence:

  • Any new installation of an electric fence requires a compliance certificate from the company that installed it. It is not optional. It is a National standard.
  • If you have an existing electric fence and you add on a portion; a Certificate of Compliance must be issued for the new addition only.
  • If you have an electric fence and your energizer is replaced with a new energizer, it’s law that the new energizer is installed to the latest standards no matter how old your fence installation is.

This would be a new energizer, 3 x primary earth spikes at the energizer or closest proximity and a lightning arrestor. This is a National standard.

  • If you sell your house and your house has its own electric fence powered by its own energizer for transfer purposes you require a Compliance Certificate for the electric fence.
When you DON’T require a Certificate of Compliance for your Electric Fence.
  • We get asked this question often and the law is pretty clear on this point.

If you reside in a complex and the complex is surrounded by an electric fence, the electric fence belongs to the complex and not your unit within the complex. So you do not require an electric fence certificate for transfer even if 1 or more of your boundaries are on the perimeter walls has electric fencing on it that belongs to the complex.

If however your property has its own electric fence powered by its own energizer on your perimeter within the complex only then would you require a certificate of Compliance for your electric fence.

  • If any repairs are done to your electric fence including

repairing energizer | repairing broken lines | replacing damaged brackets | worn equipment | in general, any minor repairs

No certificate of compliance is required.

All compliance certificates must indicate by means of a sketch, with exception to new energizer installations,

site layout | site distance | site bracket type and quantity | warning board quantity

All electric fence certificates are valid for 2 years only and there is no law that states your certificate needs to be renewed every 2 years – If it’s not gazetted it’s not a law.

Things to look out for:

Contractors saying to you or even giving you an option of a new installation with or without a compliance certificate.

This is an illegal practice.

You might save initially by thinking you are saving by opting for the installation with no compliance certificate but if you ever transfer your property the fence will need to meet the latest standards and we can track the installation timeline by serial numbers.

Contractors saying that chain links are illegal and that you need to install inline gate contacts.

There is no law that states this and as previously stated. If it’s not gazzeted it is not law – please refer to SANS 10222-3:2016

Please contact Voltage Electric Fencing Cape Town for any compliance related information.