Energy conservation lacks govt support: Experts

Energy conservation lacks govt support: Experts

Berni K. Moestafa and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

More than two decades of having an official energy policy did
little to raise public awareness about energy conservation, as
the absence of political will and regulations have rendered the
policy ineffective, experts said on Monday.

In 1980 the government founded the Energy Coordination Body
(Bakoren) to, among other things, promote energy conservation.
Its message though is either unheard-of or unheeded by the public
at large.

Indonesians use 200 million light bulbs every year that
consume five times the amount of energy of fluorescent lights,
according to state-owned electricity company PT PLN.

On the roads, the steady rise in fuel prices has not motivated
motorists to cut back their fuel consumption.

Whatever the government was aiming for when it launched the
1980 energy conservation policy, it has yet to show any results
22 years later.

One expert said ideas on conservation should not stop at
concepts but must transpire into clear regulations and standards.

"A concept on energy conservation will remain a concept, no
matter how well designed it is," said Achmad Safruddin, chairman
of a government joint team to eradicate the use of leaded fuel.

He said concepts demanded regulations for them to work.

To this end, the presence of an energy law is imperative, said
Titovianto Widyantoro.

Titovianto is in charge of implementing energy conservation
policies at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

"All our policies are non-binding. If you want people to stick
to them we need a law," Titovianto said.

Bakoren was set up to be a meeting point between energy,
environmental and economic interests. Coordination was intended
to ensure energy policies did not stir conflicts among the three
interest areas.

According to Titovianto, energy conservation is one of the
three main policies outlined under Bakoren's first policy.

The other two are energy diversification and intensification,
which deal with expanding the country's energy resources.

Now Bakoren has five main policies, a pricing policy and an
environment policy in addition to the original three, he said.

But as Bakoren jostles with five different interest groups,
Achmad said, conservation often loses out against the other four.

"The government keeps prioritizing regulations that only serve
short term economic interests," he said.

This approach, according to him, came at the expense of
regulations that support sustainable development.

Achmad said the absence of regulations had caused the
government to treat the entire energy issue half-heartedly.

Bakoren energy policies served as a guideline for industries
that lack the legal power of enforcement, Titovianto added.

Plans for an energy law surfaced about six years ago, but they
never came through, because "apparently nobody thinks it is
urgent".

The government did submit an energy bill to the legislature
about a year ago, he said, but its fate remains unclear.

He said the law essentially meant arming the energy policy
with legal teeth. Government regulations would provide details
for effective implementation.

But Titovianto said it was unclear whether the birth of an
energy law would also mean the end of Bakoren's policies.

"The law is by itself of a higher rank than the policies,
however, that doesn't mean we must abandon them," he said.

With the energy bill already proceeding slowly, energy
conservation has fallen further behind on the government's
priority scale as no budget has been set aside this year to
finance public campaigns.

"Other ministries handle similar campaigns. We still have a
say but no longer control the budget," Titovianto said.

But overall, the entire budget on energy conservation does
appear small.

Titovianto is one of just three officials handling the
country's energy conservation issue nationwide.

"Obviously, there aren't enough of us," he noted.

His three-man team took advantage of rising energy costs since
the 1997 economic crisis, to get public awareness on energy
conservation snowballing.

Pressured by a tight state budget, the government has been
cutting back on fuel subsidy spending since 1997 through a series
of price hikes.

Industries pay their fuel at 75 percent of market prices, and
the government expects to completely phase out fuel subsidies by
2004.

Titovianto said this situation has driven companies to seek
other energy sources and increase efficiency in fuel usage.

Using seminars and workshops to introduce the concept of
saving energy, industries picked up the issue and made it their
own.

Forums of different industries emerged to exchange information
on how to use energy efficiently. Now Titovianto and his two
partners have trouble coping with the rising information demand.

"We're more like coordinating this, and we help forums hold
their own seminars," he explained.

But Achmad emphasized that we should not expect people to
develop awareness about energy conservation on their own.
"Basically people like to do what they want, so we have to impose
standards and strict regulations for them to comply with," he
said.