Power tariff adjustment won’t affect over 80pct domestic users

A total of 85 percent or seven million domestic consumers in Peninsula Malaysia will not be affected by the electricity tariff adjustment for the Jan 1 to June 30, 2024 period, implemented under the Imbalance Cost Pass-Through (ICPT) mechanism, the Energy Commission (EC) said.

In a statement issued today, EC said this follows the government's decision to maintain the rebate of 2 sen/kilowatt-hour(kWh) for users with a monthly electricity consumption of 600kWh and below.

For consumers with a monthly electricity consumption exceeding 600kWh until 1,500kWh, no surcharge will be imposed while the surcharge is maintained at 10 sen/kWh for consumers with a monthly consumption exceeding 1,500kWh.

“In this connection, a total of 99 percent or 8.2 million domestic consumers will still receive subsidies from the government,” the statement said.

ICPT refers to a mechanism under the Incentive-Based Regulation (IBR), which allows fuel costs to be adjusted every six months based on fluctuations in global fuel prices.

According to EC, non-domestic users under the commercial and industrial low-voltage tariff category (tariff B and D), specific agricultural tariffs (tariff H, H1 and H2), and water and sanitation operators will not experience an increase in electricity tariff, with the ICPT surcharge maintained at 3.7 sen/kWh.

“For other non-domestic consumers, the surcharge remains at 17 sen/kWh,” EC said.

EC also said that based on a retargeting of the subsidies, the government had allocated RM1.9 billion in subsidies for all categories of consumers involved to minimise the impact of the ICPT surcharge throughout the implementation period.

It advised consumers to refer to their monthly electricity bills to monitor their electricity usage and the subsidies given.

For consumers who wish to estimate their monthly electricity bill costs in the future, EC suggested that they use the electricity tariff calculator available on the website.

EC said the electricity tariff adjustment under the implementation of the ICPT mechanism applies to all consumers in Peninsula Malaysia - except those at the Kulim Hi-Tech Park in Kedah.

- Bernama