No discussions on electricity tariff hike

Deputy Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Mahdzir Khalid says that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak;s speech on electricity tariff hike was about the one done in January.

KUALA LUMPUR: The statement by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak last week on the government’s justification to allow an increase in electricity tariff does not mean there will be a hike in electricity tariff, said Mahdzir Khalid.

The Energy, Green Technology and Water Deputy Minister said Najib’s statement during his speech at Tenaga Nasional Bhd’s (TNB) Employees Get-Together with the Prime Minister referred to the increase which was effective in January this year.

“During his speech, the prime minister referred to the increase on Jan 1, 2014, something that had already happened. And in his speech he (Najib) also clarified as to why the tariff had to be increased.

“At present, there’s no discussions on plans to further increase the electricity tariff in the future,” he said to reporters after launching Southeast Asia’s Electricity Distribution Conference here today.

Mahdzir said this when asked to comment on a report by a news portal which quoted the prime minister as saying the government must consider matters that were sometimes difficult and this included increasing the electricity tariff.

Najib’s statement was misconstrued by several parties which said that the government would raise the electricity tariff further in the near future.

Commenting on the misinterpretation by certain quarters that the increase should not have happened as TNB recorded a net profit of RM4.91 billion,

Mahdzir said the earnings did not illustrate the true operational cost of the utility company.

“One year (can) get such profit, but expenditure, allocation forked out by TNB every year is actually about RM5 billion.

“The allocation that TNB spends is for three divisions namely power generation, power transmission  and power distribution…and it has a budget for these three divisions,” he added.

On the conference, Mahdzir said it was aimed at looking for a suitable formula in ensuring that the electricity supply in Malaysia and other Asean countries generally operates with minimum disruptions.

He said the forum themed ‘Towards Business Excellence and Sustainable Future’ organised by Cired Malaysia, was the best platform for Asean nations in sharing views, ideas and skills in a holistic manner in electrical engineering sector.

“Basically, in whatever industry, business, one of it is sustainable electricity supply.

“If we want FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) to come in, among the main priorities for investors are good electricity supply, water supply and telecommunications system,” he added.