WITH the COVID-19 pandemic having burnt a hole in the pockets of many Malaysians, the time is ripe for the Government to implement the time-of-use (TOU) tariff scheme which offers different tariff rates at different times of the day to reduce household electricity bill.
This is given that most of the main residential electricity consumption such as air-conditioner, and lighting takes place within the off-peak period.
“Household will have a normal tariff during the day but lower at night,” opined Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) central committee member Sharan Raj who is pushing for the idea get implemented soonest.
“The tariff rates during off-peak period should be 20% lower than peak period to reduce household utility burden.”
Moreover, as the cost of electricity generation during peak period is more expensive compared to off-peak period, residential customers can be prevented from paying a pro-rated tariff cost.
“In fact, the TOU tariff scheme was slated for peninsula-wide adoption in 1Q 2020 but there is no news on the execution till today,” Sharan who is also the PSM Melaka state secretary pointed out.
“TOU tariff scheme will also shift planned usage such as washing machines, dishwasher, handphone charging and PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) charging from peak period to off peak period.”
At the end of the day, the behaviour known as “load-shifting” reduces the burden and bottleneck on the power grid during peak period, according to Sharan.
“Load-shifting leads to longer lifespan of the electricity infrastructure,” he justified.
“Thus, bring down the system cost (capital expenditure) which leads to further electricity tariffs reduction.” – April 30, 2021
