Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng is demanding that the government reverses its recent move to impose electricity tariff hikes on businesses.
The former finance minister urged the government to avoid the move - which risks adversely impacting this year’s economic performance, as well as the profitability and survivability of businesses - by addressing six main concerns of businesses.
Two of the concerns highlighted by Lim are inflation and the country’s weakening ringgit - which will increase the prices of imports.
“More than 1.6 million commercial and industrial users will be paying up to nearly 20 percent more for electricity from Feb 1, leading to increased prices for their goods and services.
“Why should consumers pay more just to shore up the profitability of one single company, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), further?” Lim asked in a statement today.
The DAP lawmaker noted that prior to the new tariff hike, TNB had recorded 9.6 percent and 4.6 percent increases in revenue and earnings respectively for a nine-month period ending Sept 30, 2021.
“Isn’t that sufficient when many companies are barely surviving? TNB should not be overly protected at the expense of millions of struggling businesses still emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic,” Lim added.
Last week, the Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (Samenta) raised concerns about the proposed price hike.
It highlighted that the move was questionable, given that TNB reported profits last year.
Samenta claimed that an 18.4 percent increase in the utility bills of a business running at a sub-10 percent margin could mean reduced profits of up to 40 percent - which could pose a disaster for some businesses.
On Jan 27, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Takiyuddin Hassan said that the new electricity tariff for 2022-2024 would likely be implemented from Feb 1.
Less than 48 hours later, the government announced its decision not to increase domestic electricity tariffs - continuing subsidies worth more than RM700 million for domestic users.
On the matter, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob tweeted that the cabinet’s decision not to increase power tariffs would benefit more than nine million domestic users.
Previously, Takiyuddin said that in determining the new electricity tariff, the government took into consideration the country's situation where it is recovering from the economic crisis following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Govt's move leaves many confused
Other concerns cited by Lim include labour shortages, rising prices of basic commodities, excessive bureaucracy, growing corruption and the government’s failure to harness the high-tech benefits of technological innovation.
The DAP secretary-general said that the government’s inefficiency, excessive bureaucracy and numerous policy flip-flops failed to inspire confidence - instead, it has caused confusion, disruption and doubt.
He added that the government’s failure to harness the high-tech benefits of automation, artificial intelligence, the internet of things (IOT) and 5G has put the country behind its neighbours, such as Vietnam and Thailand.
“Surprisingly, concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic have receded, provided the government keeps its promises not to re-impose the disastrous serial total lockdowns that proved to be unsuccessful in eliminating Covid-19 and failed the economy completely, causing the country to spiral downwards to a painful recession.
“Will the government act or continue to sleep on its job by focusing on its political survival more than the people’s interests?” Lim asked. - Mkini
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