MCA man urges higher electricity bill protection threshold

 Party vice-president Lawrence Low suggests new threshold of 1,200 kWh, with a progressive mechanism to prevent sharp bill increases beyond it.

MCA vice-president Lawrence Low said keeping electricity costs manageable does not mean encouraging waste.

PETALING JAYA:

MCA vice-president Lawrence Low has urged the government to consider further raising the electricity bill protection threshold to 1,200 kWh per month.

Lawrence Low.

Low said the government’s decision to raise the threshold from 600kWh to 800 kWh will provide households some immediate relief.

“However, the government needs to study extending the coverage to 1,200 kWh with a progressive mechanism so that households do not encounter a sudden sharp jump in their electricity bills once consumption exceeds the threshold,” he said in a statement.

Low, who is also the chairman of MCA’s economic and SMEs affairs committee, said that under the current threshold, households that marginally exceed 800 kWh could face a sharp increase in their electricity bill.

“Relief should taper progressively as consumption rises, rather than disappear abruptly once a threshold is crossed. This would allow households to maintain normal electricity use while continuing to improve energy efficiency,” he said.

He said keeping electricity costs manageable did not mean encouraging waste.

“It gives households greater disposable income to invest in energy-efficient air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, computers, electric vehicles and other efficient technologies, thereby supporting the electrical, electronics, retail, repair and related service sectors,” he said.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that the government had raised the electricity bill protection threshold for domestic consumers from 600kWh to 800kWh per month, until the end of the year.

He said that under the revised measure, domestic consumers using up to 800kWh a month will be exempted from the Automatic Fuel Cost Adjustment (AFA), retail charges, and sales and service tax (SST).

Anwar, who is also the finance minister, previously said the haze and hot weather in recent weeks had led to increased electricity consumption among households, pushing their usage above the 600kWh threshold and exposing them to AFA charges.

Low called for a review of the 8% SST on household electricity to be reduced to 6% or lower, saying that if the government could lessen other taxes affecting essential services and economic activity, basic household electricity deserves similar consideration.

He also urged the government to review the current Regulatory Period 4 (RP4) base tariff, which determines the underlying electricity tariff, of 45.40 sen/kWh, and consider reducing it towards the 39.95 sen/kWh rate under the previous Regulatory Period 3 (RP3). - FMT