Singapore’s Energy Conservation Act, which came into force on April 22 this year, requires companies to take steps toward managing their energy consumption and improving energy efficiency.
In light of this new legislation, Accenture, with support from the National Environment Agency, conducted a qualitative survey of 100 energy intensive companies in Singapore, with the aim of assessing the maturity of enterprise energy management practices.
The findings are now published in a report, Driving Energy Management Transformation: A study on energy management maturity of companies in Singapore.
Feature Finding: People-centred components of energy management are less mature
The key finding from the report identifies that most organisations in Singapore are relatively less mature in the ‘softer’ people-centric aspects of energy management in comparison to their technological capabilities. These include organisational structure, defining roles and responsibilities, aligning rewards and incentives, and managing skills and training.
The focus on the technical aspects of energy management could have prevented organisations from adopting a more integrated approach to energy management, thus resulting in the relatively low maturity on the people-centric aspects.
In addition, the report also finds that the people-centred components appear to vary widely across the companies surveyed, which perhaps indicates that there are large differences in the way companies manage their energy capabilities.
Secondary Finding 1: Levels of energy management maturity vary between different industry sectors
The report also identifies that levels of energy management maturity vary between different industry sectors and within some industries. For example, the biomedical manufacturing and petrochemicals industry have high maturity levels in energy management, whereas the transport engineering industry has lower maturity levels. This indicates that energy management opportunities may differ significantly across industries.
Secondary Finding 2: The pattern of energy management maturity is similar irrespective of the size of the company
The shapes of the respective capability maturity curves for differently-sized organisations are similar, which perhaps indicates that the opportunity areas may also be similar for differently-sized organisations. However, the magnitude of these opportunities may differ significantly based on the organisation’s size. Smaller organisations have somewhat lower energy management maturity compared to both medium and large-sized organisations.
Recommendations for Companies
1. A business’s level of energy management maturity is a critical factor in determining the nature of interventions
A company’s stage of maturity can be an important factor in determining the appropriate actions required to embed energy management into the operating model of the company.
2. It is important to drive energy management in a structured and holistic manner
Companies need to improve upon the ‘softer’ people-centric aspects of energy management, such as: defining an organisation structure that is aligned with the energy agenda; clearly defining roles and responsibilities that are aligned to drive the energy agenda; linking rewards and incentives to energy performance; creating awareness and a shared vision, and building core skills and training.
3. Better leadership and governance is critical
Companies should improve the level of leadership accountability and governance to drive energy management, such as: the management team assuming ownership of energy performance and ensuring direct oversight in energy related matters; identifying and tracking energy performance indicators; establishing clear energy baseline and targets, and performing energy management audits.
4. Comprehensive measurement underpins Enterprise Energy Management
Companies should invest in better measurement, analysis and information systems, which can help provide an accurate and objective assessment of energy performance, and create better energy management strategies.
To understand more about the energy management maturity of companies in Singapore, download the Driving Energy Management Transformation report.
Source and images credit: Accenture
