Energy and Natural Resources Minister, Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah has announced that the electricity bill discount that’s currently offered for April to September 2020 has been extended by another 3 months until the 31st of December 2020. This is applicable to all domestic users (residential) in Peninsular Malaysia as well as Sabah and Sarawak.
2-50% discount until 31st December 2020
The Minister said that 7.66 million domestic users in West Malaysia will continue to enjoy discounts between 2-50% from 1st October until 31st December 2020. This is an extension to the initial bill discount that was announced under the PRIHATIN program.
As announced on 20th of June, households that consume between 601 to 900kWh monthly will continue to receive a 10% discount, while consumption above 900kWh will get a 2% discount. Previously, consumption above 600kWh is only entitled to a 2% discount. Meanwhile, the rebate of up to RM77/month under Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik (BPE) was only applicable for the month of April, May and June 2020.
Domestic users in Sabah and Sarawak will continue to receive electricity bill discount of 2% until the 31st December 2020. This would benefit approximately 520,000 users in Sabah and 580,000 users in Sarawak.
No 2 sen per kWh surcharge for commercial usage
For non-domestic users, which include industrial and business owners, the Energy Commission had recently announced the waiver of the 2 sen per kWh surcharge for the period between 1st July to 31st December 2020. The surcharge was only applicable to commercial usage and it wasn’t charged for domestic users.
RM2.62 bil for electricity bill discounts
According to the Minister, the extended discount for 3 months will utilise the KWIE, a fund that is managed by the Energy Commission to control the impact of electricity tariffs on consumers. The latest extension is expected to cost approximately RM392 million. He added that the discount for East Malaysian users will be funded by the Ministry of Finance with an allocation of RM6 million.
The minister added that the overall cost for electricity bill discounts from April to December 2020 is RM2.62 billion.
[ SOURCE, IMAGE SOURCE ]
