KUALA LUMPUR (June 24): The government has decided to maintain the electricity and water tariff in Peninsula Malaysia, and will introduce a new ceiling price for chickens in its bid to fight rising costs of living, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
With this decision, the government remains committed to bearing a subsidy amounting to RM5.8 billion, despite the sharp increase in fuel and other generation costs, he said in a statement Friday (June 24).
As for the new ceiling price for chickens, Ismail Sabri said this will be announced by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Industries in the near-term.
“This decision is a testament to the government's concern to safeguard the interests of Keluarga Malaysia, so that they are not burdened by rising prices and the challenges from the cost of living,” he said.
The government had in January announced an electricity tariff surcharge of 3.7 sen per kilowatt hour (kWh) for non-domestic users for the February to June 2022 period, while maintaining a two sen rebate for domestic users.
While Putrajaya is maintaining the Imbalance Cost Pass-Through (ICPT) surcharge for now, Ismail Sabri did not mention how long the government will keep electricity at the current rate.
The government was widely expected to increase electricity surcharge for the second half of this year through a semi-annual revision under the ICPT mechanism given the elevated prices for coal, which constitutes over half of Peninsula Malaysia's electricity generation mix.
According to data from Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), coal made up 54.1% of industry generation mix in the first quarter this year (1Q2022), versus 59.2% in 2021.
TNB and independent power producers’ coal costs for Peninsula jumped almost 90% in 1Q2022 to RM4.98 billion from RM2.62 billion a year ago.
It is worth noting that TNB has already recorded an under-recovery of ICPT that amounted to RM3.50 billion for 1Q2022.