New Electricity Tariffs Spare Households Using Less Than 1 000kwh

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New electricity tariffs for Peninsular Malaysia will take effect on July 1. However, most households will not be affected, according to the Energy Commission.
It said households using less than 1,000 kWh will be spared from price hikes as part of an "energy efficiency incentive".
This is despite the base tariff increasing from 39.95 sen per kWh to 45.4 sen.
This is likely due to how the cost of generating electricity will be passed down to consumers.
Under the Imbalance Cost Pass-Through (ICPT) method, if fuel costs are higher than the six-month projection, then a surcharge of up to 16 sen is tacked on to the final base tariff. If fuel costs are lower, then there is a rebate instead.
Next month, however, the ICPT method is making way for an automatic fuel adjustment (AFA) mechanism, in which the cost of fuel is updated monthly.
This time, the surcharge to the base tariff is capped at three sen. Anything higher will require government approval.
However, based on the Energy Commission's remarks, the surcharge exemption is expected to be lowered to 1,000 kWh per month from the current 1,500 kWh.
Managing fuel price uncertainty
Commenting on the switch from ICPT to AFA, Energy Commission CEO Siti Safinah Salleh said this is expected to better manage fuel price volatility while increasing transparency to Malaysians.
"This is to allow us to make adjustments or make more accurate adjustments - more accurate fuel price adjustments and also foreign currency exchange rates according to the market," she said.
Siti Safinah said the Time of Use (TOU) scheme - which offers different tariff rates at different times of the day based on peak and off-peak timings - will be expanded.
ADSSiti Safinah said off-peak hours will include weekends and 15 public holidays.
"Starting July 1, peak hours will be from 2pm until 10pm," she said, adding that non-peak hours will run from 10pm until 2pm the next day.
Additionally, electricity bills will also carry detailed breakdowns of all charges, showing users how much of their total bill stems from capacity, generation, network and retail charges.
The new tariff rates will come into effect at the same time as the expanded sales and services tax.
Under the SST expansion, non-essential goods will be taxed between five and 10 percent, while a zero percent sales tax on necessities will be maintained.
The government is also planning to implement a subsidy rationalisation for RON95 petrol. - Mkini

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