KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 — The decision to retain electricity tariff for domestic consumers in Peninsular Malaysia for the 2022-2024 Regulatory Period (RP3) can help the people in dealing with the high cost of living due to the impact of pandemics and floods, the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) said.
Chief executive officer Saravanan Thambirajah said although fuel costs increased due to the high increase in coal prices in the market to reach US$200 per tonne, the government, through the Electricity Industry Fund (KWIE), would cover fuel costs for the period February 2022 to June 2022.
“Through this subsidy, the people don’t have to pay high costs for the use of electricity. The government has agreed to maintain a rebate of two sen per kilowatt hour (kWh) for all domestic consumers and no surcharge will be imposed,” he said in a statement today.
He said the government has allocated RM715 million from KWIE to cover the cost.
Saravanan said the government has also announced that non-domestic consumers such as industrial and commercial would be charged an imbalance cost pass-through (ICPT) surcharge of 3.7 sen/kWh, which is likely to increase these consumers operating costs and these costs would be passed on to the consumer.
“This will lead to an increase in the price of goods and services in the near future,” he said.
Therefore, he said the association is advising the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs to monitor and ensure that traders do not take advantage of price increases and profiteers.
“This is very important because the prices of goods and services show an increasing trend and will affect the purchasing power of consumers, especially the B50 group,” he said.
He said the government should also continue to provide assistance to these groups so that they continue to be protected and assisted to address the high cost of living currently.
“The government should also help affected businesses and industries through initiatives that can help reduce their operating costs so that they can bear these costs without compromising their operating costs,” he said.
Meanwhile, in a separate statement, the Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) said it urged consumers to take prudent measures to save electricity consumption even though the government had announced a subsidy for the electricity bills.
Lead activist Datuk Nadzim Johan said despite the subsidy, the association expected the price of goods to rise due to the surcharge of 3.7 sen per KWh that would be imposed on industry and commercial users starting February 1, 2022.
He said PPIM is also ready to work with the Energy Commission and any related parties to start this energy-saving campaign so that awareness of this responsibility could be widened.
— Bernama
