OPPORTUNITIES FROM THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ENERGY MANAGEMENT LAW (1)

1. I have been in this energy efficiency or energy management field for almost the whole years of my career so far. The only difference is I have been in a different organizations since I started in 1997.

2. It is a very promising field. That was the thought that I strongly believe in myself when decided to start my career in it last time. One thing that I was told and from what I saw that time and the following years was about the introduction of the new law that will require qualified people in energy efficiency will be certified by the authority for the purpose to implement the law.

3. Nothing actually happen after that and the new law has been non issue among the industry players after that when there was no strong signal after few years of big buzz in the market. I remember that time when many companies and individuals were willing to pay around RM5-6k to attend energy management trainings with the impression that will be a ticket to be an energy manager under the law. After all that has been one of the strategies by training providers to get more prospects to sign up for their program.

4. I moved from one place to another but in the line of my career, energy management always there as apart of my scope of works especially when I was am energy efficiency consultant. In the same time I been keeping in touch with the people who were still involved in the same line of industry. I saw many of them gave up and shifted to another line of career over the years and few of them remain in the business until today although they are struggling.

5. It was a tough time for those involved in this energy efficiency business since the first time I entered the field. After sometime I realized that it is not easy to be in a business or industry which not being regulated by the government.vFinally , it was announced that the new law named Efficient Management of Electrical Energy Regulations 2008 will be implemented and its effective date is from 15 December 2008.

6. I remember there were so much confusion and disbelief within people whom I know and some part of the industry about the newly introduced law. Some were not even believe it that the law was really in place officially since talks about it has been there for years already.

7. I observed and received may comments and remarks related to the law especially about the qualifications to be registered to be an electrical energy manager. Quite a number of individuals and groups in the industry expressed their displeasure and disagreement over the matter especially for those who have invested to attend the training last time but not even qualified to apply just because they do not have a degree as a mandatory requirements. Some even have doubt on how serious the government want to enforce the law especially the main concern lately is more on recovering from the economic crisis.

8. I prefer to look more on the benefits and positive sides from the implementation of the law. In general, the law is about to ensure big energy users to manage their electrical energy efficiently. Comparing the development of energy efficiency industry in other countries, it become more successful when the government started to include it as a national policy and having specific laws as tools to achieve the policy. Having a law, means that the industry will start to be regulated where those affected must comply according to the provisions of the law itself. Naturally, it will trigger and serving as a major force for those related in energy efficiency in many ways.

9. Here are some main key provisions and requirements in the newly introduced regulations:

i. The requirement to submit information to the regulator such as policy related to efficient management of electrical energy, information and documents related to energy management of the installation.
ii.The appointment of registered energy manager by affected consumers and generators

iii. Prescribed duties of registered electrical energy manager such as to perform energy audit, develop and implement energy saving activities, monitoring and record keeping.

iii. the requirement to state the energy saving measures and explanation if measures not implemented in the regular report to the regulator(every six month)

iv. the requirement to have experiences in efficient management of electrical energy to be qualified to apply as a registered electrical energy manager.


10. Based on my personal understanding and assessment of all the above points, there are so many opportunities in each of it. Anyone who has been in the industry should look into that and figure out which area can be exploited based on their own type of services and expertise.

I will elaborate more on the opportunities available for everyone with the implementation of this law from my personal opinion in my next posting. InsyaAllah.