Implications of COVID-19 pandemic for energy-use and energy saving household electrical appliances consumption behaviour in Malaysia

Abstract This study examined the impact of movement control order (MCO) due to the COVID-19 pandemic on Household Electrical Appliance Consumption Levels [HEACL] across Malaysia before, during and after the MCO, and the likelihood of the pandemic quickening household conduct towards use of energy saving appliances based on a self-reported household survey. The consumption patterns were evaluated based on hours and frequency of use of 29 household electrical appliances. Energy consumption behaviour and energy efficient star label [EESL] appliances questions were also included in the survey to provide insights into energy-efficient behaviour. The survey attracted 1482 responses from 1500 households approached across geographic regions in Malaysia. The findings show significant changes in HEACL across the three periods, viz., (i) before MCO, (ii) during MCO, and (iii) after MCO. There was a significant increase in HEACL during and after the MCO. Also, the low-income group showed the highest shift in appreciating EESL devices over the MCO, while changes in their appreciation was not significant among the medium- and high-income groups. The results imply that energy-wasting habits proved hard to shift across middle- and high-income households. The findings presented herein are unique, which focused on Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide insights for Malaysian policymakers when developing future action plans to stimulate a fall in energy consumption and a shift from conventional to EESL devices over the long-term.