KUALA LUMPUR – Any consideration for rebates or discounts on electricity bills in the future is subject to the government’s financial position, said Energy and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan.
He said last year, the government provided a discount on electricity bills involving an expenditure of RM2.75 billion, which was jointly funded by the Finance Ministry through the Covid-19 Fund (KWC), the Electricity Industry Fund and Tenaga Nasional Bhd.
He said this when winding up the debate on the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) in response to a proposal by Shaharizukirnain Abdul Kadir (Setiu-PAS) for the government to extend the electricity bill discount to domestic consumers of small and medium enterprises until December.
Takiyuddin said the targeted discounts of up to 40% in electricity bills for domestic consumers and a 5% discount to micro, small and medium enterprises for the period between July 1 and September 30 in the peninsula and Sabah involved an allocation of RM487 million.
Meanwhile, in response to an issue on mining raised by Wong Chen (Subang-PH), he said approval letters for mining operations would not be issued for land with permanent forest reserve status or areas gazetted as environmentally sensitive.
He said the federal government would also strongly disagrees with any proposal for state governments to degazette permanent forest reserve for mining purposes. – Bernama, October 6, 2021
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