Retailers object to cutting hours

Tifa Asrianti ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 05/12/2008 10:51 AM  |  City

The Indonesian Shopping Center Management Association demanded the government set energy-saving requirements instead of cutting malls' operational hours.

"The government should set energy-saving standards by cooperating with academics and related stakeholders, so everyone knows how to save energy," Sutoto Soerjadi, the association's secretary-general, said Friday.

He said the government and academics could list energy-efficient products so customers could consider energy when making purchases.

"The products, for example, could be displayed on three different colored shelves: red, yellow and green, with the most energy efficient on the green shelves. We can involve the Indonesian Consumer Agency to monitor the implementation," he said.

Aviliani, an economist at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) said the government should set energy efficiency standards for all kinds of buildings, including shopping centers and government offices.

"The standards, for example, could regulate that a shopping center of a certain size must only use a certain amount of energy. If the centers do not comply, their management will be fined, forcing them to save energy," she said.

"The use of lights must be more efficient, but not by cutting operational hours. Less operational hours means less revenue from taxes generated by the retail industry," she added.

The government plans to cut opening times by one hour in a bid to reduce fuel and energy consumption. Greater Jakarta uses 15 million kiloliters of the 37 million kiloliters of national fuel consumption.

The shopping center association has 49 centers listed as members in Jakarta. They currently open for 12 hours, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The one-hour reduction is expected to cut 5 million kiloliters of fuel.

Sutoto said members of his association had been trying to reduce energy consumption for the last five years. He said shopping center management had set thermostats to reduce energy consumption from air conditioners.

"Our members have decreased light usage, switched to energy-saving bulbs and applied censor systems on their escalators," he said.

He said taking an hour off retailers' working day could only save between 5.26 and 5.37 percent of energy consumption, equal to 0.79 percent in tax revenue. However, he added, the regulation could make shopping centers lose 6.88 percent of their income.

Shop owners will demand compensation through reductions in service charges, electricity costs and rent, he said.

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