THE Energy Commission said the price of electricity will go up for those paying bills between RM230 and RM738 effective Jan 1 but the new rates may impact only 15% of the domestic consumers in Peninsular Malaysia.The increase could be between RM12 and RM32 under new electricity tariffs for the period of Jan 1 to June 30, 2024.A total of seven million domestic consumers will not be affected by the rise in prices as the two-sen rebate per kWh remains for domestic users using 600kWh or less.“Some 8.2 million domestic users will continue to enjoy the subsidy from the government. “For non-domestic users, the surcharges remain,” the commission said in a statement yesterday (Dec 22).It said this adjustment is part of the government’s strategy to implement targeted subsidies and that about 1.2 million consumers using between 601kWh and 1,500kWh will now lose the RM12-RM32 rebate, leading to an increase in their bills.There will be no change for those consuming 1,501kWh and more, as the surcharge of 10sen per kWh remains. This group involves those whose electricity bills amount to RM738.20 or more.For non-domestic users in the commercial and low-voltage industrial, specific agriculture, water and sewerage categories, the surcharge remains at 3.70 sen/kWh.The government has allocated RM1.9 bil in subsidies to minimise the impact of the surcharge for the first six months of next year. – Dec 23, 2023
