SUSTAINABILITY ACHIEVED VIA ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROGRAM: ACHIEVEMENTS AND IMPACTS

OVERALL CAMPAIGN ANALYSIS BY THE PR CONSULTANT : MING KH AND ASSOCIATES

Awareness Campaign

• Energy efficiency as a topic is still low priority among the media and the general public

• Chinese and English medium media are more supportive of the program with the BM papers not keen to carry the announcement during launch and updates of the SAVE Rebate Programme

• Online thread such at Lowyat.net shows that some people are interested in the program but new homeowners are questioning why they are not eligible especially since they will be buying new appliances 
• Advertising campaign was interesting and piqued interest in the program but due to budget, the burst was too short

• Roadshows were effective in bringing the program to the grassroots and helped those who had trouble understanding the mechanics or had difficulty to print the voucher

• Roadshows are more successful outside of Klang Valley with more visitors in the evening and weekends

• Retailers’ training were helpful as an avenue for retailers to voice their grievances and clear doubts and misunderstandings

• SAVE Media Visits did not happen because energy efficiency is not a hot topic and editors were not interested

• Online presence should be continued as it is a viable channel to reach directly to the public and they are using it to clarify matters and seek for help when they encounter problem with the retailers

The SAVE Program

• Malaysians will love to save energy but prefer methods that will be easier and one that doesn’t change their current lifestyle

• Energy efficient appliances are still considered expensive even after the rebate

• Most find the mechanics to claim the rebate cumbersome even with proper guidelines given across all channels

• Some felt that the one-month period given to claim the rebate is too short and felt that they should be given a chance to re-print if they fail to claim it within the one-month period

• Online thread also highlighted concerns that retail shops participating in the program is more expensive than other shops even after the rebate is given
•  Payment hiccup at the start of the program forced many retailers to doubt the program and that affected the redemption of vouchers when some of them refuse to do so until after they are paid

• Outstation retailers especially in the rural areas felt that the process was difficult

• Different implementation across Tenaga Nasional Bhd, SESCO and SESB means there is no one-rule-fit-all

• Example: Tenants are allowed to redeem the vouchers under TNB but they are not allowed to do so under SESCO (only owners are allowed)

KEY LEARNINGS

• PR campaign should have switched to general topic of energy efficiency earlier after interest in the SAVE Program died down

• While general awareness was achieved, the advertising campaign should have had a stronger call to action during the initial launch

• From the first round of advertisements, people were aware that saving energy = saving money but weren’t aware that they could do so through the rebate vouchers

• With the limited budget, should have focused on a stronger campaign on radio to maximise budget instead of going for television

• There were however good feedback on the TV advertisement as it was eye catching and different from the usual Government-related advertisements

FINDINGS FROM A MARKET SURVEY BY  AN EXTERNAL RESEARCH COMPANY 

Survey Forms SAVE Rebate Program Effectiveness was sent to domestic consumers who have used vouchers SAVE Program in Jan-Mar 2012.

SURVEY METHOD

The survey was separated into different parts, each part  with a focus on different aspects.

The last set of questions asked respondents to comment on whether the program should be continued and suggestions on how to improve.

Part 1: Awareness Campaign

This section emphasizes the level of awareness about the campaign entered. Options granted to enable the respondent to answer. The criteria include questions about

·         Do you know about the SAVE program;

·         How did you find out about this program, and

·         Based on your knowledge, what are the goals of this program.

Part 2: Facilities in Getting the Vouchers

Information for access to vouchers used for the survey to the respondent for the purpose of maintenance of facilities provided by the program administrator to consumers SAVE Program. Questions cover

·         From where did you get this rebate vouchers;

·         Have you had trouble finding a link to print your voucher at the SAVE program website;

·         Whether the information is too complicated to be filled, and

·         Do you have difficulty printing vouchers.

Part 3:Facilities in Using the Vouchers

Identified three questions to find out the effectiveness of the use of vouchers and the redemption of the respondent. Among the questions posed are:

·         Are the stores that participate in this program easily found and identified?;

·         Are the documents should be carried along while using the voucher encrypt your purchase?; and

·         Does the salesperson at the store allow you to create voucher redemption?.

Part 4:  Effects of Energy Efficient Equipment

Questions for this part  was to identify the impact on the use of vouchers and participation on the SAVE program of the respondent. Four (4) questions identified;

·         By differentiating the previous electricity bill electricity bills when you use a refrigerator or air conditioner energy efficient, is there any change in the use of electricity at home?;

·         Does the SAVE program to help you understand the concept of energy-efficient electrical appliances?;

·         Does the SAVE program to help you understand the benefits of choosing energy efficient equipment through the Energy Efficiency label?; and

·         Does this program make you more aware of energy conservation and efficiency practices at home?.

FINDINGS

The survey has revealed that 39% of those who responded on this program from the stores where they buy refrigerators and air conditioners, and this was followed by those who find through the newspaper (25%). Personal networks are also an important source of information, 15% of respondents said that they knew about the SAVE program through friends and relatives.

When asked about whether they know the reasons for the program, 37% said that it is to educate consumers about the importance of energy conservation and efficiency , while 32% said it was to provide rebates to homeowners, and the remaining 31% stating that it is to promote the use of energy-efficient products.

57% of respondents indicated that they have gotten their vouchers through the assistance of the dealers, while 39% of the SAVE website.

Although the majority did not have any major problems, a large minority (47%) have trouble finding a link to the voucher on the site, while 37% have difficulty understanding instructions and 47% had complications print them out.

For the convenience of using a voucher Moreover, 88% said that the stores that participate in this program easily found and identified. 80% of those surveyed revealed that their electricity consumption has gone down as a result of the SAVE program, while 93% indicated that it helped them understand the concept of energy efficiency.

Although there are still some issues that need to be associated with the SAVE program, such as making it easier for people to find and use the voucher, it can be categorized as a success.

This is reflected in how 97% of respondents said that this program should be continued. It is still early yet, and one would expect that by the time the next SEDA conducted studies, the results will be positive, if not better.

As at August 2011

As a whole, starting from the SAVE program launched until August 31, 2012, the estimated energy savings of 179.68 GWh and electricity bill savings of RM 39.17 million were achieved on the current number of units refrigerators and air conditioning, 5-star has sold either under the SAVE program or not .

The achievement of market share in the period July 7 to August 31, 2012 for refrigerators and air conditioners:

·         5-Star rated refrigerators: 242.3936 units (40.40%)

·         5-Star rated air conditioners: 159.102 units (26.52%)

·    Total energy savings was 246.42 GWh. Carbon savings of 167.5 million tons

Through achieving the market share, the rate of reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions

·         5-Star rated refrigerators: 41,646.06 tonnes

·         5-Star rated air conditioners: 82,335.29

  

For Energy Efficient Chiller

Total capacity of market share for chillers with performance in compliance with MS1525:2007 Standard at 39.2% or 80,611 RT

SAVE Rebate Program had positive responses from all parties that include manufacturers, retailers, the owners of private companies and the public.

The overall everyone was able to understand and familiarize themselves with the mechanism to get rebate vouchers from the online system and the purchase and subsequent use rebate voucher redemption by the seller for every voucher that is used by the buyer.

Level of awareness and knowledge about the importance of using energy efficient equipment should also be improved among the crowd which aside from being able to buy energy-efficient equipment at a cheaper price, its use will also save the cost of electricity bills in the long run, particularly if there is any increase in electricity tariffs implemented by the government.

We must thank every one and every party who has involved  and contributed to this success. It was a truly ONE MALAYSIA spirit to me throughout the whole process when everyone is giving their best shots, put aside all differences and committed to achieve goals that have been set in the program.

CONGRATULATION EVERYONE! IT WAS AN HONOUR TO KNOW AND WORKED WITH ALL OF YOU FOR BETTER MALAYSIA AND MALAYSIANS!

What’s next?

The  rebate programs under SAVE Program has been a huge success but the main concern now is how to sustain that momentum.There is suppose to be a law on Minimum Energy Performance Standard(MEPS) and EE labeling by 2013 to ensure  products with less energy efficient to be prohibited to enter the market which can be done through new regulations under Electricity Supply Act 1990.

This is where the clear policy on EE with specified targets is very crucial in  the way forward as projected in ETP  for Malaysia to become a developed country and high income economy by 2020.

However, as I mentioned in my previous posts...it has been a quiet year for EE lately and the ministry and agency which are responsible looking into does not look keen  to carry this forward...we will see...and as always...this is not look urgent to them too

Sustainability Achieved Via Energy Efficiency(SAVE)Rebate Program: The implementation(writing in progress.....)

This is...once again will take some time for to recall...it was a very challenging but still interesting and enjoyable journey for me and the team too. I learned a lot more especially when I went to the ground and really listened to their natural feed back about the program and about EE in general in their life.
Working with people from many parties and organizations also opened my eyes to many things and learned some new skills too along the way.The success of the program was actually depend very much on how well all the plans were executed by everyone who played their  designated or expected roles...

Retailers

• For big retailers such as Seng Heng, Carrefour and Courts, they sent they officers to meet SAVE project team in KeTTHA to understand the whole process and procedure. They they had their own internal sessions with their personnel to brief them  and some of them invited officers from SAVE team to give the briefing.
• At the early stage many retailers did not familiar with the online system and also had different idea about some of the documents that need to be submitted  for claims.Some were unsure about how fast and how frequent for them to submit claims too. All these concerns were addressed through on going assistance through phone and from series of seminars for retailers at each region.
• Some consumers brought the voucher and asked for cash exchange from retailers but that misunderstanding when more retailers had more understanding and explained that to consumers.

• delay in  payment for claims.At one stage, some of them warned us that they will stop participating and will deny request from consumers. This was finally resolved when system in TNB became smoother.

FOMEDA and retailers

Felt that the process was too cumbersome since retailers have to process and then submit claims. Then they have to  wait for two weeks before they can get back their money and on top of that they thought the rebate amount should be more to attract more buyers to use the voucher to purchase.
All of FOMEDA's  and retailers' concerns were valid to me since they were representing the best interests from their members but most  of their concerns we addressed directly and indirectly through out the implementation stage. After the seminars that we held , most of retailers began to understand the whole objective, process and assistance provided to them in the program.

We reached a stage where we helped participated retailers by providing them with free posters and buntings to be placed at their store nationwide to ensure consumers will notice about the program when they enter or pass by their outlets. This additional initiative was on top of all other ongoing programs such as roadshows, digital, electronic and printed media coverage and advertisements by the SAVE team.



SEMINAR FOR RETAILERS in 2011

1. Selesa Hotel, Johor Bharu, 2 August 2011

2. Swiss Garden Hotel and Residence, Kuala Lumpur, 4 August 2011

3. Vistana Hotel, Kuantan 15 August

4. Promenade Hotel, Kota Kinabalu 18 August

5.Sunway Hotel, Seberang Jaya 14 September 2011

6. Ritz Garden Hotel, Ipoh 15 September 2011

7.Grand Margherita Hotel, Kuching 19 September 2011

8. Sutera Inn Hotel, Kota Bharu 22 September 2011

9.Mega Hotel, Miri 26 September 2011

Consumers

Some of the main issues during the early stage after the launch were price and some retailers refused to entertain consumers with the voucher.There were some misunderstanding and misinformation about the rebate voucher and how much should be the selling prices for products that qualified for the rebates especially among the salesman and person-in charge at retailers' outlets. These created some discomfort to some early consumers who tried to redeem the voucher.All that happened  before seminars for retailers held and after that, we received almost no more complaints on the issue of prices since most of participated retailers already understood  and familiar with the program.

TNB

At first, processing the claims from retailers only was seen as additional work loads for counter staff at TNB's customer service office.Some even called and vented their anger personally over the phone. I did not blame them of felt upset about them because I may feel the same if I were in their shoes. To resolve this issue, I left it to TNB to managge that internally and again, I must thank Datin Siti Laila and her team for ongoing efforts taken to have their own internal roadshows to explain about the program to all their staff nationwide.

Some were not happy but I must also record my credits to some of them who went extra mile too to ensure the success of the program.There were TNB personnel called us to ask for assistance on how answer queries from retailers and consumers too.Some did report to us about suspicious claims to and there were cases where we managed to trace retailers which tried to submit false claims with lead information  given by these TNB personnel. Thanks again to them.

SESB and SESCO

I guess due to the smaller quantities of vouchers for Sabah and Sarawak, we did not face any major issues from feedback that we received from our implementation partners in both states which was SESB and SESCO.

Reviews in Qualifying Criteria for refrigerators' rebate

This was expected. At some points I knew that we need to review it and we did that.That was done after we gathered all inputs and feedback from many parties such as consumers, retailers, manufactures and some NGOs. Despite the increase of sales by manufacturers of 5-star rated products, the progress of the take up the voucher was rather slower than expected. It was not strange too to me because....

First, before the program, there were on 5 brands with 5-star rated products in  the market and most of them were big size models and surely at more expensive prices. Due to constant communications and consultations with manufacturers  invited  during the planning stage, we had 12 brands available in the market for 5-star rated products. These new brands came with smaller sizes and more competitive prices too with more competition among manufacturers. People did buy more energy efficient products although they might not use the voucher.

Second, the initial medium low  income groups had been given the priority at the start to benefit from the voucher incentives but we should not allow others to be denied the opportunities too if the rebate offered not being used by this group. After discussions held with all stakeholders in the program, we agreed to open the vouchers to all consumers but still limit the size of the qualified models. It was sometime towards the end of 2011 if I am not mistaken and that move was well received by many.

for refrigerators and air conditioners, we surpassed the market share target by September 2011 but I keep that statistics quietly to ensure  everyone not losing the momentum to keep working according the the plan.

Chiller

The  slow take up of rebates for chiller was  also anticipated because it will involve business decisions.The rebate value is only  in the range of 10-15% of the total costs for any building facility to replace their chillers and it may involve some interruption to the normal building operation if not planned carefully. One more key factor, the process from the beginning to apply until the verification stage will take some time before rebates could be paid to successful applicants. However, based on inputs from the market and key players in the industry such as chiller manufacturers, all of us had the belief that rebates offered will snapped 100%.For updating and reporting purposes to PEMANDU and KeTTHA, I requested to move the start one-year duration from January 2011 to December 2011 to from July 2011 to June 2012 for us to achieve the targeted amount.This was caused by the delay to the launching of the program itself.

We had a meeting with key organizations  that representing commercial building facilities such as Malaysia Association of Hotels, Malaysian Association of Hotel Owners, Association of Private Hospitals and Organization of Complex Management to seek their cooperation to assist to disseminate information about the program to their members. All of them were very supportive  received the increase in the applications subsequently after that and we also agreed to have regular  meetings after that for updates on the program and to address any issue  faced by their members.

Chillers manufacturers were also aggressively promoting about the rebate program since their have information of their existing clients from their own database which qualified to apply for the rebate.

Road shows

The roadshow was planned to be held at lesser locations initially since that would require so much budget and we had limited budget. It was suppose to be only 6 venues involved. 4 in Peninsular and one each at Sarawak and Sabah. In end we had more than what we actually planned but we did that with the same amount of budget. This was managed to be done through consultations and cooperation with   all parties in the campaign and promotional team.

Why, we believed that, the road show is an effective way for us to go direct to the public where we would be able to get direct responses from them and how to improve in the implementation through their  responses too.

So, finally  we had  major roadshows at selected town and mini roadshows at selected venues and events.

For major roadshows, we managed to get participation from manufacturers to display their 5-star rated products with representatives on duty at each location as well.We also joined by the utility company where visitors were able to check their utility account number and later get he voucher printed on the spot if they are qualified consumers.

At  major roadshow, the set up was to create a very open and interactive environment.Visitors had the chance to ask any questions about the rebate, learn some tips about energy efficiency and also participated in quizzes and games where some prizes were there for them to win too.

For children, we had clowns with activities and a corner for them to play interactive computer and other games too.

LOCATION	DATE
Major road shows
Giant Kinrara, Puchong	9 - 10 July
East Cost Mall, Kuantan	16- 17 July
Straits Quay, Penang	23 -24 July
Giant Tampoi, Johor	30 -31 July
The Hill, Kuching	17 -18 Sept
Bintang Mall, Miri	24 - 25 Sept
Suria Sabah Mall, Kota Kinabalu	1 - 2 Oct
Mini Road Shows
KB Mall, Kelantan	14 - 15 Oct
Dataran Pahlawan Megamall, Melaka	22 -23 Oct
Star Parade, Kedah	28 -29 Oct
Terminal One, Negeri Sembilan	12 -13 Nov
Ipoh Parade, Perak	19 - 20 Nov
Invited events
iGEM, KLCC 7-	10-Sep
Malaysia International Renovation Expo 11 (REX), PWTC	11-13 Nov
Community Green Carnival	Putrajaya

Giant Kinrara Puchong  (9-10 July 2011)

Leading by example. At the counter to entertain visitors

Answering queries

with my kids...let them learn early

East Coast Malll , Kuantan

Radio Interviews

to add write-up 

KL FM

Johor FM

Melaka FM

Mutiara FM, Penang

Negeri  Sembilan FM

Kuantan FM

Kota Kinabalu FM

TV Interviews

to add write-up

Printed media coverage

Newspapers

• Mainstream media

Less coverage given by the mainstream media especially from Malay language newspapers.Expected because if EE has never been a big thing within the government itself, it would never become a magnet for the media to address. Malay newspapers did not find it sensational enough to attract readers I guess unlike big gossips that they would love to cover like other tabloid newspapers.

• Chinese and English media

For a Chinese newspapers, they were very keen to know the progress. Some reporters keep calling me to know how many  vouchers printed after the launching. At some points I had trouble to answer their negative coverage about program but too me it was good too because it keep the program in the news. I was not worry about their concerns that we may not be able to finish the voucher and achieve the targets but all that  were the least of my concerns because I strongly believed that it will be achieved.

We had a  very good response from the star. They gave us the front page coverage and about 4 more pages inside coverage in September 2011 and created the peak hits at SAVE's website. Before and after that, they gave some updates to.

Magazines

 TENGALINK (OFFICIAL TNB MAGAZINE)

GREEN PURCHASING ASIA(NOW GREEN PROSPECTS ASIA)

Digital media/online coverage

Media visits

to add

KEY OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS FROM THE IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES

...to add





The final post on SAVE program next will the last one...it will cover the actual KPIs achieved  and impacts of the program.