TNB Energy Services (TNBES) has long been at the forefront of Malaysia’s battle to improve energy efficiency. Now with a powerful new suite of energy efficiency products, the wholly-owned subsidiary of national energy company Tenaga Nasional Berhad is looking to drive forward a new era of efficiency.
“TNBES has been providing energy efficiency initiatives for customers since 2004,” said Managing Director, Dr. Ahmad Jaafar, in a recent interview. “One of our tasks is to carry out energy efficiency initiatives, and enhance our customers’ understanding and adoption of a smarter energy usage.”
With a company like TNBES, meeting those needs is a challenging task. They are expected to promote more efficient energy usage for millions of customers. For the commercial and industrial customers, TNBES offers energy audit services and support, while for residential customers technology and efficiency products are set to help.
Education is an essential first step, according to Dr. Ahmad Jaafar. “The majority of people think that electricity can only be controlled by switching it on or switching it off. They have no idea that normal consumption can be reduced by as much as 50% with efficiency efforts.”
TNBES’ Making Electricity Visible (Maevi) product is looking to change all that, by putting the power of informed decision making in the consumers’ hands. Maevi is a powerful energy monitoring system which provides customers real-time energy consumption data, supported by automated appliance management. It is available on both mobile app and through an online portal, providing a flexible cloud-based solution to the needs of the modern energy consumer.
Another key part of TNBES’ energy efficiency mandate is meeting the needs of Malaysia’s commercial and industrial energy consumers. Just like with their residential customers, the company is banking on products that help inform consumption as the foundation of their approach.
A key component of the suite of solutions offered by TNBES is their flagship Energy Audit services. Using their extensive industry experience and world-class energy efficiency expertise, TNBES provide detailed analysis and feedback on an organisation’s energy efficiency performance.
Another measure used to support this informed consumption comes in the form of TNBES’ Power Factor Solution. This product offers a simple measure of energy efficiency using a Power Factor Index. An energy efficient business should be operating above 0.85 measured on the scale, or above 0.90 for high consumption energy users. An index results below these measures helps customers identify the need to optimise their efficiency.
for an upfront investment of just RM15,000, the client unlocked an annual saving of RM300,000.
Optimising your Power Factor avoids a surcharge imposed by TNB on substantially inefficient businesses. The Power Factor initiative has allowed customers to save up by 20%, showcasing the real value benefits that TNBES can deliver through their energy efficiency programmes. A 2013 case study using TNBES’ Power Factor Solution was able to deliver a 17% reduction to electricity costs for a 12-storey office building. That meant for an upfront investment of just RM15,000, the client unlocked an annual saving of RM300,000.
But what do you do as a business when you’re considering the benefits of energy efficiency, but you’re uncertain about your financial resources to implement them? That’s where Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) comes in. EPC is an arrangement that provides solutions for reaching energy cost reductions. EPC is a world-wide recognised scheme, of which TNBES is a provider.
The EPC product not only helps to financially support the upfront costs of energy efficiency. The Energy Service Company (ESCO) carries the burden of initially forking out the money, allowing organisations to enjoy energy efficient mechanisms without investing in high capital. The system is commission based – higher energy savings mean higher returns for the ESCO.
Driven by the incentive to ensure higher cost savings, ESCOs such as TNBES support businesses by monitoring and analysing their current energy usage, looking at the load profiles and detailed analysis of consumption and operational efficiency. They then work to build a proposal that identifies areas of potential savings for clients. That solution can vary from fine tuning of operational infrastructure such as air conditioning to upgrades to the building envelope that improve insulation and efficiency.
The challenge with industry is that often you have to spend to save
“The challenge with industry is that often you have to spend to save. When you approach an organisation and say ‘we can save you 50% of your electricity costs, but you need make an upfront investment,’ there is often hesitation. At TNBES we work to convince those industrial players while supporting them through our Energy Performance Contracting (EPC),” said Dr. Ahmad Jaafar.
In a rapidly evolving power market, TNBES is offering an evolving suite of products that continue to adapt to the changing needs of its customers.
Products and services like TNBES’ Energy Audit and Energy Performance Contracting provide an effective framework that tackles energy waste while reducing costs and supporting more competitive business operations. For ordinary consumers, innovations such as MAEVI help deliver informed insight that enables more energy efficient living.
Energy efficiency isn’t an activity we undertake once a year, it’s a continual process to promote more sustainable electricity use throughout the nation. Thanks to TNBES, we’ve got better tools than ever to help us on that journey.