After spending several years asking residents to take shorter showers and turn off lights that aren’t in use, officials have said conservation efforts in Qatar are starting to show results.

Between April 2012 and November 2015, per-person electricity use declined 14 percent, Kahramaa officials said last night at an event to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the utility’s National Program for Conservation and Energy Efficiency, Tarsheed.

Similarly, per-person water consumption fell by 17 percent during the same period, according to Kahramaa.

Speaking at the event, Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani said, according to the Peninsula:

“Energy conservation is a religious, national and moral responsibility of all people in this country. There is no alternative to preserving natural resources for us and for the coming generations.”

In a bid to continue reducing power and water usage, all residents will be sent monthly text messages advising them of the amount of electricity and water they used and what the recommended amounts would be for their building, Kahramaa President Essa bin Hilal Al Kuwari announced last night.

Uneven results

Qatar has long been saddled with the reputation of being one of the highest per-capita electricity and water users on the planet.

While the government quietly raised prices last fall – leading some larger facilities, such as shopping malls, to cut power consumption – the government’s efforts to promote conservation has largely been restricted to public awareness campaigns and a threat of fines for water wastage.

A Kahramaa spokesperson declined to elaborate on how figures showing a reduction in the per-person use of electricity and water were calculated when contacted by Doha News.

In September 2014, Kahramaa said it had been caught off-guard by the “great and unexpected increase” in electricity demand that year.

An analysis of electricity use and water production figures published by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics suggest conservation efforts have produced uneven results over the last year.

While per-person electricity use was down 7.6 percent, year-over-year, in July, it also increased 5.25 percent in November.

Similarly, Qatar residents used 5.35 percent less water in June, but per-capita water production jumped 17.05 percent in January 2015, compared to a year earlier.

Thoughts?