SOMETHING TO SHARE WITH NEW ENERGY EFFICIENCY(EE) INDUSTRY PLAYERS

Yesterday I received one visitor at my office. He is already above 50 years old, a very experienced guy who will retire soon from the private sector. He was one of the youngest country managers of Hewlett -Packard in Malaysia and now interested to embark on energy efficiency field to fill his early retirement plan from next year.

He knew my contact number from one of the PhD holders at UNITEN who I met in one seminar on EE policy early this year. He called me and then came to see (finally after I have to postpone it few times due to my working commitment) me upon recommendation from that person who is also his friend. His friend told him that he may be able to get more insights on opportunities and current market trends from me since I have been involved in EE for quite some time.

When I recall, I realize that I have entertained at least 5 other people this year alone before this guy. All of the came to see me personally to have some more information on EE market in Malaysia and its potentials.

When they contacted me on our first communication(normally via email messages) I told them they also could get some information that I have been sharing  in this blog, my LinkedIn posts under Malaysia Green Professionals Group and in the Slideshare portal where I uploaded some of my presentation slides related to EE development in Malaysia.

Most of them did that but then, all of them insisted to see me in person to hear and ask directly some questions to me. Some even have to wait and still came due to changes in my working appointments with my clients.

Other than that, have also received queries on the market information online through my LinkedIn networking from local and international contacts. Some were foreigners who are interested to set up a base or to move in as green or EE professionals and some asked me about what they should do and what it takes for them to become EE players.

Honestly I do not know how much my input and information will help them but they seem very happy and relieved after they talked to me or received my answers through my email replies. They also thanked and appreciated my willingness to share my experiences and knowledge on EE industry in Malaysia with them.

Actually I just shared with them anything that I am know and aware off about the current progress of EE industry Malaysia with my exposure in the public sector and now as an industry player myself. I know some of them may become my competitors but that does not really worry me at all since the cake is still very big and still more than enough for anyone to take their slice.

With Mr. Alex at my office yesterday, 18 July 2013. All the best my new friend!

The chat with Mr. Alex yesterday  has actually  triggered  to write  this entry  and to share some of my thoughts related to what we discussed and shared. I rejoined the industry last year and from sharing my thoughts with other, it's a learning process for me too.

With that I would like to share what are they key factors and tips for anyone who is interested to embark on EE industry at the present environment. The following items are things that I believe to be crucial to be considered based on my experiences with the market since 1997 as a practitioner, then as regulator and a policy maker and now as an industry player with a business to run in EE field.

1.  Specialization

• You must have at least one or few areas in EE that you believe that you are strong at. That will be what you are going to start to sell when you enter the market.

• I do not believe in, as a starter you will be able to convince the market that you have all the solution sfor them when you do not have track records yet to support your credentials. You also must remember that you will not be the first one to knock their doors to offer EE services or products and it would be not a good type of reputation that you want to earn especially if they had bad experiences before.

• When you talk about area that you specialized in, you will be able to explain what you would like to offer to them in more convincing way and that will trigger some trust in your ability to deliver.

You need to know what you are really good at to convince them to pay  for your services!

• I personally saw and experiences  that  some companies did tell to their prospects that they were able to do almost everything but finally disappeared when they realized that could not deliver as per requested by the prospects. This will also leave a bad image to other players who genuinely provide total solutions in the market.

2. To know other experts/players in the market and their specialties

• As a service provider in EE, in some cases, clients insisted to include scopes that beyond your areas of specialization. For example, they may want to have the total solutions from engineering and management components of energy at their facilities. 

• Bear in mind that EE is multi-discipline field and no way can anyone become an expert in  all of them. By having a good contact with other experts that you know   and whom you can trust their credentials to work with, you will not lose the opportunity with your prospective clients.

Some scopes in energy services require different expertise to deliver

• In other cases, while you are servicing within you current scopes, they may have different or additional solutions or really specific services such as measurements that they need you to resolve for them and do not mind you source it from elsewhere.

• That are among the reasons why the knowledge on available EE experts and knowing them also important for you to start with.

• I am now entrusted in running one company in a group of companies which all companies in the group are in EE business but as we move on, we still need to work with other experts or partners to meet the increasing demand of our existing and potential clients.

3. You are the best?

• Unless you really have the track records or official testimonials or recognition to support your claim, please avoid claiming that. Why? Malaysian market for EE services sector is not that big and words will spread very for statements or claims that sounded like to discredit or undermine other players. It may not be the best idea when others started to scrutinize you and started to compare your self-proclaimed  "the best" services or products with what are available in the market. If you do not live up to that level, it will start to damage your reputation in the market and among other players.

4. Projects reference or track records

•  It would be very helpful to have your track records on important or significant projects that are related to EE properly documented and ready to be shared with the prospects if needed. That my give you some credentials to you especially when you are new.

5. Using the proxy figures won't work for EE business

• In EE services or products deliverable, you job is not done the moment you secured the deal. It's all about our ability to deliver and prove to your clients that whatever you offered to them really works.

• If you have managed to sell EE products, if they could not enjoy savings as high as what you have promised, they will lose the trust in you and also have negative thoughts about that product and there EE products too.

• If you have secured an energy audit job but the reports and findings presented to your prospect do not meet certain standards in good practices and expectations, you are as good as over because the market will start to lose confidence in your company. Not to mention the effects to other ESCOs that really good but have to deal with the mess that you have created.

• In relation to the above, having proxy figures to be with you in the company just to convince your prospects may not be  the best idea if you are not able to deliver. In this market where players are not many, once you screw up like that, you are as good as gone together with your reputation and your proxy s well.

My experiences tell me that you need to convince them on what you can deliver rather  than who you brought with you  to help to  convince the prospect

• I mentioned this because, I dealt with many companies came with many proxy figures to convince us about their proposal when I was working  in the public sector. These proxy normally some people with  titles but we know that they are  not known or related to EE field at all and their presence were just trying to influence the decision to favour the company that they represented.

• I know that is the trend in Malaysia but I personally do not know how much  that will help them if they cannot really deliver well.

6. You are on your own?

• EE industry is not a comprehensively regulated industry. It means you cannot expect too much assistance or guidance from the government agencies. 

• Do not be too disappointed if you are asked to refer to multiple agencies to get answers to your questions on EE because that is the way how it is now.

• It is simply because of there is still now clear policy at the national level that can be referred as a common document with its objectives and target. We also do not have any comprehensive law that governing EE industry unlike environment, occupational health safety and energy supply industries.

• At present, different agencies are carrying out EE initiatives on their own ways with no one is responsible or accountable on EE performance at the national level.

• What we can do now is to find our own ways to survive in this industry using whatever avenue and opportunities available in the market. In the same time we can only keep continuing to raise or concerns and recommendations to the government to be more proactive in supporting us in development of the industry by urgently introducing a clear policy, its EE targets, comprehensive framework with single accountability to be referred by the market for implementation and support measures available for the industry to grow.

The above are some of the key elements that I strongly believe to be considered for anyone who is interested to start their career or business in EE industry.

WELCOME ON BOARD AND ALL THE BEST.

TOGETHER WE CAN KEEP VOICING OUR CONCERNS AND DEVELOP THIS INDUSTRY FOR US AND BENEFITS OF THE NATION.

MY ENERGY EFFICIENCY INFORMATION SHARING SERIES IS NOW AVAILABLE AT

For easier sharing of energy efficiency related information through  some of my presentation materials and some that I have received from various events, I have uploaded them in the slides sharing portal at

http://www.slideshare.net/ZAINIABDULWAHAB

The following are titles of each presentation that I have uploaded which I hope would enlighten us on certain topics related to energy efficiency in general and also specifically in Malaysia.

I sincerely hope that this might be useful to some of you and other Malaysians too.

TITLE:

• Effective Green Technology Policies Implementation: An industry player's perspective
• Proposed National Energy Efficiency Master Plan For Malaysia
• Pengenalan Kepada Sektor Tenaga, Polisi Dan Perundangan Kecekapan Tenaga  Elektrik
• Pengenalan Kepada Aplikasi Penjimatan Tenaga
• Energy Efficiency Standard and labeling in Malaysia 2010
• Energy Efficiency for Malaysia-the way forward
• Panduan ringkas amalan kecekapan tenaga di rumah
• UNEP training for climate change mitigation – lighting
• Introduction to energy audit part 1
• Introduction to energy audit part 2
• Introduction to energy audit part 3
• EE Initiatives and National EE Master Plan by The Ministry of Energy, Green Technology & Water
• MIDA networking session on clean technologies-21.2.2013
• Total energy conservation solutions for manufacturing facilities
• Zaini’s Energy Efficiency Journey
• Introduction to effective communication
• Introduction to energy management system
• The implementation of Efficient Management of Electrical Energy Regulations 2008
• Training on Energy conservation for Malaysia(ECMY4)-Group Presentation
• Introduction to Energy Performance Contracting

Registered Electrical Manager Services from my own perspective

Actually this a compilation of my previous posts in three parts...with some added points at the end

To start...just like any other law, the enforcement and monitoring by the regulator is also crucial to ensure the good impacts that could be resulted from EMEER 2008 compliance. 
EC at least need to have the in-house capacity and competent people in EE implementation who at least can guide the affected installations and REEMs for them to be able to look into the actual spirit behind EMEER 2008 rather than just for compliance. EC's roles in educating the installations in directly linked to REEMs that they have certified as their "representative" because if REEMs are not able to convince the installations about the benefits from compliance with EMEER 2008, EC will be  left alone to do it. 
This is another one reason why REEMs are so crucial to ensure the success of EMEER2008 implementation. 

Now, let us examine their effectiveness to promote EE...at least at with installations that they appointed according to the requirements of EMEER 2008.

The Efficient Management of Electrical Energy Regulations was effective from 15 Dec 2008 and it affects consumers and private licences that consume or generate more than 3,000,000kWh in total in 6 consecutive months at any duration from the effective date.

Two key features in the regulations are: 
1. Affected consumers/private licensees must appoint Registered Electrical Energy Manager (REEM) with EC and... 
2. Also required to submit energy management info and updates in a scheduled report to EC in every 6 months

Key duties of REEM in efficient management of energy in general are:

1. To advise on how to implement 

2. To audit 

3. To monitor the implementation 

4. To supervise records and documents are kept 

5. To ensure timely submission of the scheduled report by the installation 

Currently there are about almost 2000 installations affected by the regulations and I am aware that EC has started to send warning notices to those who have not comply since 2011 
please log on into EC's website www.st.gov.my for more info

My REEM Certificate that I finally obtained in early 2012

Based on feedback by some affected installations and also REEMs in the market, we can classify REEMs in few categories now:

1. Appointed as REEM at the installation where he/she is working now (I guess the most of REEMs) for compliance 

2. Appointed as the third party as REEM by affected installations they can be appointed by more than one installation. This group normally consultants. 

3. Not appointed any installation and just keep the certificate as one of their competency recognitions

Comparatively with other countries that have similar competency certificate by EE laws such as Japan and India, to become REEM is much easier due to a very "minimum" requirements in EMEER 2008 for academic qualifications, knowledge and experiences in EE. All that they need to have are at least a degree in engineering, architecture and science with experiences in energy management from 6 months to one years plus an interview session before they can be registered if they pass the interview.

The main concern is....how competent of REEMs in promoting and assisting to implement EE for the affected installations and for other intensive energy users as a whole.

  

Functions and duties of REEM in EMEER 2008 are very general and in can be interpreted in many ways if not being well explained and guided by the regulator. The key objectives  of EMEER 2008 is to ensure energy resources (electrical) is managed efficiently and REEMs are expected to play the critical role for that to happen...

How many installations for REEM can be appointed? How much should REEM charge for each installation? How much should I for REEM services? Will REEM help to save energy? Is energy audit is compulsory and if yes, what type of energy audit that need to be carried out? Detailed, investment grade or walk through? 

It is very crucial for REEMs to be able understand their "real" functions and  duties clearly and convincingly since provisions stated in EMEER 2008 are very brief and general...their ability to do that normally will determine what type of REEM they would be that will lead to what type services to delivered to installations that agreed to appoint them. 

To me...the compliance of affected installations towards EMEER 2008 should only be the minimum requirement for REEM to fulfil which is to verify reports that need to be submitted to EC in every six months. Their further functions should derive from the regulation 16 in EMEER 2008 which is not fully understood the owner of the installation who are mostly new or unaware of it until they received the notification from EC. 

 To my understanding, the spirit of EMEER 2008 is more to give the freedom to each installation to manage their energy efficiently. It can be seen with so many general provisions and minimum mandatory requirements that need to be complied. That actually gives the flexibility to REEM to figure out the best or the most practical package to offer other than just for compliance... 

We will look into this topic further since this will determine the tangible values and benefits in the appointment of REEM in the eye of the installation's owner with the amount of fee that they are willing to pay.

From the market information and communications with some of fellow REEMS ...there are REEMs being paid from about RM500 per month to RM50k+++ per year for services offered to affected installations with about 400 installations have appointed REEM.There are REEMs appointed to many installations and the highest number for one REEM that being told to me is about 20 installations.

I am not going to question about the fees or how many installations for each REEM can be appointed, as a REEM myself, I would to discuss on how every REEM will or should position themselves in the market and how as REEMs, and then we would be able to promote efficient management of energy that will benefit the installation itself and the country as a whole. It's free market and everyone has absolute rights to find the best way to secure clients. 

There are few types of installations too when it comes to on how they look at EMEER 2008.Generally I would like to categorize them as follows: 

1. just would like to comply to avoid issues with the authority, their certification requirements and etc. Management of energy it is not so critical to them especially for purely local companies.

2.Ready to comply since energy management have been implemented for many years

3.Want to comply but delayed their actions due to other important commitment and in the same time findings it hard to get REEMs due to insufficient supply and unsure about how much values REEM will bring with the costs that they need to fork out. They are also raised concerns on lack of reference/guidance/benchmark on the scope of works of REEM to deliver with proposed fees.

4. With wait and see attitude...trying to delay it if possible

5.Just do not care at all

6. The management are not aware about it at all

7. Keen to comply and immediately and taking necessary actions to indicate their on-going commitment as "green" or law abiding organizations

There are may be more but what I am going to highlight here are...
firstly, for different type of organizations, REEMs have to have different approaches to sell themselves to get appointed with the suitable scope of works to fulfil each installation's requirement and their perception towards EMEER 2008.
Secondly, how REEMs position themselves in the market will create the perception towards them among the affected installations as a whole and companies that appointed them, fellow REEMs and also from the regulator's point of view. 

I came across installations that we have EE projects with them that shared with us some of their experiences with REEMs that they have appointed. For companies that appointed REEMs from their qualified internal personnel, normally they do not have that many issues with their REEMs. Negative comments normally come from companies that appointed external REEMs that could not see or realize the benefits despite paying certain amount of fees on monthly basis other than complying to EMEER 2008. 

Personally, there are companies send me enquiries on REEM services that I am also offering as one of our consultancy services. I would say almost all of them just interested to appoint REEM for the purpose of compliance only and looking for the "best price" which normally the cheapest price.
Some of them already received warning notices but still do not take it as an urgent matter yet. Why? I will try to elaborate on the later or sometime in the future posts since my focus now in on REEM.
Both REEMs and affected companies need to be guided and the only party who can do that is the regulator itself because what is happening now is the true spirit of EMEER 2008 is not fully understood for them to see the positive impacts that could be resulted from the enforcement of the law. There must me a synchronized efforts among the regulator, REEMs and affected companies to act on roles as specified in the law  for us to see the actual desired impacts from the introduction of EMEER 2008.
The diagram below summarized roles that need to be played by each actor in EMEER 2008 implementation to enable the law to achieve its objectives.


Relationship and roles of key actors in EMEER 2008 implementation

Obviously the biggest roles that need to be played are by the regulator especially in the early part of the implementation. The regulator must have strong and competent EE capacity within the organization to enable them to perform their functions effectively especially when installations and REEMs refer to them for clarity about provisions in the law and assistance on how to practically move towards the compliance.
The other biggest challenge of the regulator is to create significant interest among the technical people to apply to become REEM, to register them and to ensure REEMs will play their roles after that. With less than 200 REEMs registered at this moment, it definitely insufficient for the market and with many of REEMs are based on their existing workplace as a full time employees, the total number of REEM that would be able to ensure at least the compliance is far less than enough. This has already created unhealthy environment in REEM market when the demand is too much more than the supply where some REEMs are willing to rush the quantity rather than the quality of services delivered. 
On-going campaign to increase awareness on the potential of new career and business opportunities is required to attract more EE professionals, practitioners and others with related EE working experience to apply to become REEM.

To become REEM under EMEER 2008, you do not have to a technical specialist or specialized in other areas in EE. Then, appointment of REEM by any company for the purpose of compliance only will not guarantee any energy cost reduction yet. However, being a specialist in certain areas especially on how to identify and implement energy cost saving measures definitely will bring more values to companies appointed them as REEM at their facilities. I will try to share some tips in my future postings on how easy to become REEM is you already met the qualification requirements and experiences in energy efficiency.

REEMs normally will ask and share information and experiences their fellow REEMs on what they actually do to secure, deliver their services and to maintain their clients. Meanwhile companies will normally refer to the regulator to confirm about the requirements to comply and then REEMs in the market to gauge what type of services could be offered and fees. Companies also will ask other companies and finally they will decide based on their actual needs to appoint REEM. Without a proper advice and guidelines, companies may end up appointing REEM with their own reasons and not in tandem with the objectives of EMEER 2008 implementation. This scenario must closely monitor by the regulator and to close the gaps on different perceptions and assumptions by companies and REEMs about complying towards EMEER 2008.
The general understanding about EMEER 2008 is they need to implement energy saving measures which is not totally correct since the focus of the law is on the management of energy at the affected installations. This is where the regulator needs to explain clearly and extensively to them that the law is not all about energy savings. EMEER 2008 is actually focusing on the management component of total energy management solutions which also cover the technical component which directly related to energy saving measures. When the energy resources are being managed efficiently, it will subsequently will result in identifying ways to eliminate wastage that will improve energy resources utilization in the facilities.
To put so much emphasis on energy savings will create the impression of quickly to jump into possible immediate measures to be implemented if they need to comply to EMEER 2008 and measures can be quickly associated with costs to implement too which shift the attention to EE technologies(products).

TYPES OF REEM

To become a REEM under EMEER 2008, you do not have to a technical specialist or specialized in other areas in EE. Then, appointment of REEM by any company for the purpose of compliance only will not guarantee any energy cost reduction yet. However, being a specialist in certain areas especially on how to identify and implement energy cost saving measures definitely will bring more values to companies appointed them as REEM at their facilities.

Now I would like to elaborate further on what type of REEM that anyone possibly could be. To be realistic too, monetary factor would be one of the key factors among others. 

Another key factor is what is the market(installations affected by EMEER 2008) expects from REEMs which very much depending on how they see the implementation of the law as I indicated in the previous post.

I am not trying determine  to which one is right or wrong but would like to bring the attention to achieve goals from the implementation of EMEER 2008 other than potentials business opportunities.

The  figure below outlines on  how I anticipate the scope of services that could be offered and roles to be played by REEMs:

 

• Compliance Services

1. To me, when monetary benefit is the ultimate goal by being REEM, promising to ensure the basic compliance requirements is met would match the need of companies which have the same interest. For these types of REEMs, their scope will only require them to be appointed by the company and sign the declaration form (Form B) in every six months. All EEM works generally will be up to the company with appointed REEM will provide minimal inputs. 
2. With the minimum works required, fees for this type of scope normally will be minimum too and extra scopes will require the company to be charged separately upon request by the company. There will be no fixed commitment such as of number of visits, type of reporting or details of service level agreement by the REEM. With this approach, one REEM would be able to offer their service to many companies.
3. I do heard now  some companies that are now questioning the value REEMs appointed by them who are not really doing much to help them to save energy despite being paid a fixed fee every month. For some companies, they are all right with it since that is exactly their requirement, just to comply with EMEER 2008.
4. For this type of scope, generally REEMs are not required to be well-versed in overall concept of energy management and even in energy conservation measures too because they do not expect themselves to  deliver that although their client may(indirectly due to the minimum fee agreed).

• ·                     Efficient Energy Management(EEM)Services  

1. This is an enhanced scopes of REEM with the key addition is about assisting the company to have a comprehensive energy management system (EnMS) implemented at agreed time frame. The energy management system will cover both management and technical solutions that finally will lead to reduction of energy consumption and costs. This may involve adoption of recognized energy management standards such as ISO50001 standard.
2. REEMs who are able to offer this EEM services have to be familiar on the key concepts of EnMS from the development, implementation and evaluation for continual improvement. Bear in mind the goal is not about to lead or to get the company to be certified but to have a system in place within the company that would enable them to achieve their energy targets and then sustain it with or without REEM. The effective implementation EnMS is expected to enable the company to save energy costs at NO or LOW cost measures to start with before they can embark into bigger financial investments on energy saving measures which will lead them to have more significant savings.
3. REEMs are expected to be more involved with the company and for easier understanding of commitment required from both parties, REEMs are advisable to prepare and submit their energy management plan to develop and implement EnMS which to be mutually agree by both of them too.
4. Since there are  more roles and time to be spent, we expect higher fees to be proposed and justified by REEM to their potential clients and then to convince them to accept the proposed scopes.
5. Normally, if both parties agreed with the proposed plan and fees, REEMs have the biggest challenge to deliver to justify fees that being charged. This is because, the company will have some more inputs at the later stage after the appointment made from their contacts on scope that being offered by other REEMS for compliance alone.
6. The failure of REEMs to prove their value to their clients with have significant impact on the perception of affected company towards  other REEMs since with this type of scopes, REEMs are expected to be specialist sin EnMS or energy efficiency measures who will advise and guide the company in efficient management of energy.

·                     EEM mentor

1. Further the services offered for the above two types of REEMs, EEM Mentor would have the approach and strategy to deliver our REEM services to cover the following:

• REEM will identify competency requirements and develop in-house competencies through  training programs  on EnMS and EE related topics; and
•  REEM will be a mentor to for in-house candidates  who will  apply to be a REEM with Energy Commission  and will assume the functions and duties as REEM after  the appointed external REEM services contract ended
• The external REEM may play advisory roles or for specialized services upon request by the company on need basis.
• Generally, this type of REEMs would only willing to be appointed at certain numbers of companies only at one particular duration which will make them eligible to offer their services at 3-4 companies at one time. This is due to the need for them to give due attention to each company which require constant assistance and guidance before REEM's tasks could be finally handed over to the in-house REEM towards the end of their contract

At this stage, it is hard to gauge what type REEMs are currently the majority in the market since the actual scope of services is only known between REEMs and their respective clients. As someone who currently holds that REEM registration and to those who have intention to get one, it is entirely up to you to decide what type of REEM are you or you will be.

In a bigger picture, the effective implementation of EMEER 2008  could also contribute to the growth of our economy and reduction of carbon dioxide gas emission through the reduction of energy consumption with efficient management of energy at affected installation as summarized in the figure below.