THE Government should do more to help lower power tariff among consumers, especially by forgiving outstanding bill for those who have lost their income due to COVID-19.
“The Government’s decision to maintain Imbalance Cost Past Transfer (ICPT) rebate of 2sen/kWh from July 1 until Dec 31 is laudable.
“But a mechanism needs to be established to ‘write-off’ outstanding electricity bill for families that have lost the income since COVID-19.
“Since MCO 1.0, thousands of families in the informal sector had lost their income until they can’t even afford to feed themselves,” Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) central committee member Sharan Raj, said in a statement.
Earlier yesterday, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said the 2sen/kWh rebate for all Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) account holders will be extended for another six months, but at a slightly reduced rate.
He added that 9.44 million users will benefit from it, involving an additional allocation of RM493mil from Kumpulan Wang Industri Elektrik (KWIE).
Under the Pakej Perlindungan Rakyat dan Pemulihan Ekonomi (People’s Protection and Economic Recovery Package) or Pemulih later yesterday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Mahiaddin Yassin announced that domestic power users will enjoy discounts between July and September.
The discount rates begin at 40% to 5% for the highest tier users.
Six selected industries will receive a 10% discount from April until September, while other SMEs will be enjoy 5% discount.
On that note, this was not the first time PSM had urged the Government to forgive outstanding electricity debts incurred by struggling households, which has risen from RM1.39 bil in September last year to RM1.62 bil as of March this year.
“The number of households with outstanding electricity for more than five months is rising exponentially.
“So, I urge the minister to use TNB’s RM3.6 bil profit last year to write-off outstanding electricity for zero-income household,” Sharan remarked. – June 29, 2021.
