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Monday, June 6, 2011

Respond to Ani’s expose, Najib told

The electricity tariff hike won’t be necessary if the government makes amends on EPU’s mistake, says Guan Eng.

PENANG: The DAP has demanded that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak explain why the public must suffer high electricity tariffs when the government could cut its subsidy bill by undoing the so-called “gas subsidy scandal” recently exposed by former Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) chief Ani Arope.

Referring to Ani’s allegation that the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) forced TNB to accept lopsided purchase deals with independent power producers (IPPs) nearly 20 years ago, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said a review of those deals would be “more than sufficient” to reduce the subsidy bill.
“Clearly, there is no justification for Putrajaya to hike electricity tariffs by 7%,” he said.
Ani said in a recent Facebook posting that the EPU bullied TNB into buying electricity from an IPP at 14 sen per kilowatt hour (kWh) despite an existing offer of 12 sen.
“You don’t need to go to a fanciful business school to figure out why we need a tariff hike – just revisit the terms given to some IPPs,” he said.

Lim said in a press statement today that Najib must respond to Ani’s allegation.

He said the scandal cost Malaysians RM131.3 billion between 1997 and 2010.

“Up to end 2010, Petronas has extended about RM131.3 billion in gas subsidy to both the power and non-power sectors,” he said. “If the gas prices remain unchanged… about RM27 billion in 2011 would have to be incurred.

“The prime minister must answer why Malaysians must pay for the mistake.”

He also quoted the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers, which said the power sector had yet to translate its price advantage in fuel cost into electricity rates that are more competitive with Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia, where the power sectors pay more for gas.

“The cost of electricity in Malaysia following this hike is nearly at par with Thailand,” he said. “If we compare with Thailand’s rate for low, medium and high voltage, Malaysia’s electricity tariff for all these categories is higher.”

DAP publicity chief Tony Pua recently cited Ani’s 2006 interview with The Star, in which the former TNB chief urged the federal government to declassify the power purchase agreements inked between TNB and the IPPs.

Ani said then that TNB was producing electricity at eight sen per kWh but the government asked it to buy from IPPs at up to 23 sen per kWh within a specific number of years and at a certain volume regardless of its requirements.
Ani helmed TNB between 1990 and 1996. He has claimed that he chose to resign rather than sign the lopsided deals.

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