A method, an apparatus, and a system for energy saving management in a network management system are disclosed. The method for energy saving management includes: configuring, by an integrated reference point manager IRPManager, an energy saving policy, where the energy saving policy includes an identifier of a coverage backup entity for energy saving and further includes policy information of energy saving activation and/or policy information of energy saving deactivation; and sending, by the IRPManager, the energy saving policy to an integrated reference point agent IRPAgent, where the energy saving policy is used to perform energy saving management on a base station.