Energy Vol. 15, No. 11, pp.

1061-1063, 1990
Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved

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NOTE

DOMESTIC

ENERGY CONSUMPTION
MALAYSIA
BAHARUDIN

IN WEST

BIN YATIM

Energy Research Group, Department of Physics, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi,
Selangor, Malaysia
(Received 10 February 1990)
Abstmd-A
survey of household energy consumption has been carried out in and around
a small township in West Malaysia. The households surveyed covered various income
groups, from less than MS500 to more than MS3OOO/month income, located in rural and
urban areas and new housing estates. The average per capita energy consumption was
15.02M.Vday. Electricity is used mainly for lighting and power, while gas is preferred for
cooking.

INTRODUCTION

In Malaysia, energy analyses have been carried out on gross sectoral bases, primarily in the
electrical, transportation and agricultural sectors. Detailed planning has been described only
for the electrical sector.*
In 1980, the Socio-Economic Research Unit of the Prime Ministers Department (SERU)
carried out a random survey of domestic energy consumption in the township of Kajang and
around the national capital Kuala Lumpur. The SERU survey covered domestic and
transportation energy use. The present survey was carried out in May and June 1989 in Kajang,
nearby housing estates and surrounding areas so that a comparison may be made with the
findings of Ref. 3. The household income ranged from less than M$500 to more than
M$3OOO/month (M$2.7 = US$l). The objectives of the survey were to determine: (a) the
domestic energy consumption pattern, (b) the preferred energy-source mix, (c) variations of
per capita domestic energy requirements with income, (d) areas of energy conservation.

THE

QUESTIONNAIRE

The questionnaire contains three parts. Part I gives family data, including family size,
number of working members and total income. Part II contains information about the dwelling,
including the type, size and location of the house. Part III contains details concerning domestic
energy use (electricity, gas, kerosene, charcoal, and wood). Each sub-part also lists the
appliances used.

OBSERVATIONS

The total number of households surveyed was 155. Family data are shown in Table 1. Table
2 shows the ownership of electrical appliances and Table 3 shows the energy mix (figures from
Ref. 3 are shown in parentheses).
Electric@

Electricity is available to all households, including the 18.75% of rural households. All of the
households use electricity for lighting, sometimes supplemented with kerosene (15.6%). These
figures are higher than those reported in Ref. 3 (electricity = 91.8%, kerosene = 5.6%); 97.9%
1061

1062

Note
Table 1. Family data.
Average per capita daily
commercial energy requirement

Income
wte
(MS)

Average
family size

3::
5.8

Total
consumption
(MJ)

Source mix (%)

Electricity

LPG

15.44
11.86
15.80
15.38
15.45
16.19

29.57
38.35
30.32
42.93
49.09
52.32

42.27
58.28
53.10
53.72
43.65
45.30

Kerosene

Average monthly
energy cost/family
(MS)

Percent
of income

19.38
12.15
16.58
3.35
7.31
2.38

42.7
50.23
73.62
68.93
73.04
83.27

8.54
5.02
4.98
3.24
2.92
2.77

of the households own a refrigerator and 84.4% own a blender. By comparison, there are very
much lower percentages of ownership of electric ovens (20.8%), rice cookers (13.5%) and
electric kettles (5.2%); 92.7% of the households have electric fans, 96.9% television sets and
74.0% radio/radiogram/cassette
systems; 63.5% own washing machines and 26.0% vacuum
cleaners.

The survey shows that LPG (gas) is a popular fuel for cooking and is used in 92.7% of the
households. This figure is very much higher than that (53.6%) of Ref. 3. The time elapsed
between the two surveys may be a contributory factor to this difference. This trend indicates
that conversion to gas for cooking is advancing very rapidly. Gas is not used for other
applications.
Kerosene
Kerosene remains an important fuel for cooking and is used by 32.3% of the households.
This figure is lower than that (49.3%) of Ref. 3. As mentioned earlier, 15.6% of the
households use kerosene to supplement electric lighting.
Charcoal
Only 8.3% of the households
special roasts or grills.

use charcoal for cooking, and then only occasionally

to cook

Table 2. Ownership of electrical appliances (%).

Monthly income (MS)

Appliance
Electric oven
Microwave oven
Refrigerator
Rice cooker
Electric kettle
Toaster
Blender
Washing machine
Vacuum cleaner
Electric iron
Electric fan
Air conditioning
Television
Radio/gram
Electric organ
Electric drill
Sewing machine
Lawn mower

Use
(% of sample)

rn.8
2.1
97.9
13.5
5.2
31.3
:::
26.0
95.8
92.7
2.1
96.9
74.0
1.0
10.4
1.0
3.1

<500

501-loo0

1001-1500

1501-2ooO

2001-3ooo

>3ooo

18.2
0
100.0
0
0
9.1
54.5
9.1
0
100.0
72.7
0
90.9
63.6
0
0
0
0

14.3
0
92.9
7.1
3.6
14.3
42.9
50.0
10.7
92.9
89.3
0
92.9
64.3
0
8.3
0
0

25.0
0
91.7
33.3
16.6
16.6
83.9
50.0
8.3
loo.0
83.3
0
100.0
75.0
0
21.4
0
0

42.9
0
100.0
14.3
14.7
42.9
92.9
64.3
28.6
92.9
loo.0
0
100.0
85.7
0
14.3
0
0

21.4
14.3
100.0
21.4
0.0
50.0
92.9
85.7
57.1
100.0
loo.0
0
100.0
92.9
0
22.2
7.1
7.1

11.1
0
11.1
0
55.6
94.4
100.0
50.0
loo.0
100.0
9:.:
66:7
5.6
0
11.1

Note

1063

Table 3. Use of energy in households (figures from Ref. 3 are in parentheses).

Power, comfort,
Energy source
Electricity
Gas
Kerosene
Charcoal
Wood

Cooking

Lighting

leisure

95.8 (36.3)
92.7 (53.6)
32.3 (49.3)
8.3 (26.7)
5.2( 8.7)

100 (91.8)

97.9 (87.1)

1X6( 5.6)

Wood

Although 18.7% of the households surveyed were in rural areas where firewood is free for
the picking, only 5.2% of the households use woodfuel as compared with 8.7% in Ref. 3.
Cost of energy
Table 1 shows that the cost of energy incurred by the households ranged from M$42.70 to
83.27/month, whereas Ref. 3 reports between M$32.00 and 443.OO/month. However, the
figures of Ref. 3 included energy costs for transportation,
which increases with income. For
purely domestic requirements, we find that the cost of energy to the households is less than
M$lOO.OO/month/household.
Energy consumption
The per capita energy requirement per day ranges between 11.86 and 16.19M.I and averages
15.02M.I. These figures are slightly lower than the corresponding value of 16.92M.l (4.7 kWh)
determined for a semi-urban community in India. An important observation is the fact that the
average daily per capita energy requirement does not depend on income. We conclude that
these figures represent the essential requirements for domestic energy use with little or no
waste.

CONCLUSIONS

The daily per capita domestic energy consumption does not depend on family income. The
domestic energy requirement averages 15.02M.I per capita/day. Electricity is preferred for
lighting, comfort and power tools. Gas is preferred for cooking and conversion to gas cooking
depends only on fuel availability. Kerosene remains an important fuel for cooking, especially
among the lower income groups. Wood is decreasing in popularity and charcoal is not used
much.

REFERENCES

1. Introduction
to Malaysias Energy Sector, Ministry of Energy, Telecommunications
and Post,
Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (1982).
2. National Energy Balances, Malaysia 1978-1985, Ministry of Energy, Telecommunications
and Post,
Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (1986).
3. The Use of Energy and Attitudes Toward Energy Conservation among Urban Households: A Case
Study of Kuala Lumpur and Kajang, The Socio-Economic Research Unit, The Prime Ministers
Department, Kuala Lumpur (1980).
4. C. L. Gupta and K. U. Rao, Energy 5, 1213 (1980).