Authorities to regulate market of energy related products |05 August 2017
In order to improve the quality and efficiency of energy related products available in the market, the Seychelles Energy Commission (Sec) in collaboration with GOS-UNDP-GEF Resource Energy project, organised a half-day workshop to get the views of stakeholders on a way forward in establishing a framework that will regulate electrical appliances entering Seychelles, in terms of their energy efficiency and quality.
The ultimate objective of this initiative will be to regulate the market of energy related products by establishing an Energy Efficiency Standards and Labeling Programme for electrical appliances and an endorsement initiative for solar thermal and PV products, suppliers and installers.
The regulation will set a Minimum Energy Performance Standards so that all appliances that qualify to enter the country have to be energy efficient within and above a defined level. The legislature once approved and implemented will also help to eliminate the importation of low quality and low energy efficiency products in the country.
The regulatory legislation will form part of the national energy management programmes related with sustainable energy because they have a direct impact on the demand reduction of primary energy resources which, currently, constitute a significant burden to the public expenditure and are based mainly on highly pollutant fossil fuels. Four phases for the implementation of the legislation were proposed by Sec for discussion during the workshop.
- Set standards
- Establish (or not) a certification scheme
- Establish (or not) a labelling programme
- Establish an applicable compliance regime
The consultative workshop held at Care house 0n Thursday, was attended by representatives from Sec , Fair Trading Commission (FTC), Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC), Seychelles Bureau of Standard (SBS), Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Energy, Public Utilities Corporation (PUC), importers, wholesalers and suppliers among other stakeholders.
The chief executive of Sec, Tony Imaduwa, thanked the delegates for attending the workshop and told them to feel free to say if the proposed mechanism is wrong and to suggest any alternatives to the proposals as for the time being the process to monitor or to validate an energy efficiency product exists on an interim basis.
He said that all suggestions and recommendations will be looked into so as to have a good regulatory legislation.
The Sec has been exempting VAT on products such as solar PV systems, solar water heaters as they fall under renewable technology category and now it wants to provide incentives also to those wanting to adopt specific efficiency electrical appliances that have been identified as high electricity consuming products, by a recently conducted energy baseline study.
Five commonly used electrical appliances, air conditioners, refrigerators and freezers, washings, light products and solar energy system have been chosen by Sec for the minimum energy performance standards and they will be among other items to be restricted from entering the country through their energy inefficiency.
Appliances compatible to below minimum energy performance standards, will not be eligible for VAT exemption.
The workshop was facilitated by Cynthia Alexander, principal officer, Sec and Tiago Queiroz Santos, consultant for renewable energy, Sec.