PUTRAJAYA – Medium (MV) and high-voltage (HV) industrial users as well as multinational corporations will be the only ones slapped with a electricity tariff surcharge at 20 sen per kilowatt an hour (kWh) starting January 1, through the imbalance cost pass-through mechanism.
Speaking to the press, Natural Resources, Environment, and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said the government will still subsidise RM1.93 billion to avoid a significant increase on the surcharge should it be passed on entirely to users.
He then reiterated Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s promise that domestic users, low-voltage (LV) users such as small and medium enterprises, and those categorised as specific agriculture (tariff H) will not face any surcharge increase.
“For domestic and LV users, the government has allocated RM8.74 billion in subsidies.
“To ensure no increases in prices of food and agricultural products, users such as farmers and animal breeders, which are categorised as specific agriculture (tariff H), will also not face any electricity tariff increases.
“The government has allocated RM90 million in subsidies for this category of users.
“This means that nine million electricity users, over 90% of users in the whole of Peninsular Malaysia, will not be affected by the increase in fuel prices for electricity generation,” said Nik Nazmi.
He added that the SME category includes micro-businesses as well as restaurants, groceries, bakeries, and small workshops, among others.
The newly minted minister said Putrajaya’s electricity subsidy has been slashed in total to RM10.76 billion from RM14.91 billion.
“With this targeted subsidy scheme, an additional RM4.16 billion allocation that would have gone to bear the cost of electricity subsidy can now be allocated to help the rakyat through other means.”
When asked whether or not there will be another review in the electricity surcharge, Nik Nazmi said that the cabinet will revisit the ICPT in six months.
At the moment, the existing surcharge for these MNCs, HV and MV users stands at 3.7 sen/kWh.
MV users are those who utilise 11kV cables for their electricity supply – these include factories and commercial lots such as malls.
However, specific agricultural industries categorised as MV users are exempted under tariff H.
HV users have been designated as large factories such as car assembly lines, which utilise 132kV cables for their electricity supply. – The Vibes, December 16, 2022
