In most economies, the voluntary appliance labelling paves a way for the mandatory minimum energy efficiency performance standards ( MEPS) and labelling program. Usually, the lessons learnt from the voluntary program are used to improve the mandatory program. Similar to most countries, South Africa started with the voluntary appliance labelling program in 2005 with the aim of preparing the South African market for the mandatory program. In communication with the Department of Energy, the voluntary appliance labelling was not a success mainly due to lack of incentives. This paper discusses the some of the lessons learnt from the voluntary appliance labelling to suggest ways in which the implementation of MEPS can be fast tracked.