Vote to get TNB to act on bill complaints

Inundated with complaints by the rakyat on the marked increase in electricity bills since the analogue meters were replaced with digital ones, an action committee by PKR is now urging Tenaga Nasional Berhad to engage an independent body to act on each complaint, for a fee.

PKR Kelana Jaya member of parliament Wong Chen said currently when people asked why their bills were higher and requested that their meters to be checked, TNB would say that they have no time to look into the complaint immediately.

"We have spoken to several people and received feedback that they are willing to pay RM20 to get someone to check their meters," Wong Chen said.

He said that for this purpose, the PKR committee will launch an online polling campaign next week for consumers to vote if they would like get an energy test for a small fee to determine the actual electricity rate.

Wong Chen said that a verification process will ensure fairness to the customer and increase confidence in TNB.

However, he said that the government or Energy Commission should appoint an independent body to do the testing on behalf of TNB.

"Whatever the reason for the higher bills, it is clear that the public is being left in the dark about the new digital meters.

"We are also unaware how many new meters have been installed so far and the cost of acquiring these new meters."

PKR vice-president Datuk Chua Jui Meng said the people were burdened by the higher costs, which had gone up by between 100% and 200% since the new meters were installed.

"We hope the Energy Commission will look into the complaints by the rakyat seriously," he added.

Wong Chen said that once the online campaign achieves the intended target, they will take it to TNB.

The action committee includes Wangsa Maju MP Datuk Dr Tan Kee Kwong, who said that it was obvious that TNB recognised there was a problem as they had stopped installing the new digital meters for now.

Prior to May’s general election, former energy, green technology and water minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin called for a stop to the installation of new meters because of the complaints.