The Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (PETRA) has recently increased the quota for the Net Energy Metering (NEM) programme for domestic consumers. Officially known as the NEM Rakyat, the existing 600MW quota has recently been fully subscribed.
Hence, PETRA has since added 100MW to the NEM Rakyat quota, which increases it to 700MW. This additional quota is available for domestic customers under Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) until it is fully subscribed or 30 June 2025 – whichever comes first.
What is NEM Rakyat?
NEM is the essential policy that dictates the solar photovoltaic (PV) installation and usage in Malaysia. It has been generally structured to allow users to reduce their electricity bills.
Under the NEM Rakyat programme which has a 10-year contract attached to it, the benefit comes in the form of a “one-on-one” offset concept. What this means is that for every 1kWh of excess energy that is exported to the grid, users get 1kWh of energy that they can import from TNB.
If the user’s consumption in that month is less than the energy generated by the solar system, the surplus energy will become what is known as the NEM Balance. The amount of surplus energy can be accumulated for a period of up to 12 months.
As an example, let’s say that this particular house has a solar system that managed to generate 600kWh for that particular month. However, the user’s total energy consumption for that month is 700kWh which means there was no surplus energy to go into the user’s NEM Balance pool.
Based on the current tariff, the 700kWh consumption cost is RM286.40. On the other hand, the value of the 600kWh of energy that was generated by the solar system is RM264.60.
With that, the user’s total consumption cost for that month is just RM21.80. Do note that this calculation has been oversimplified and it does not include related charges such as Imbalance Cost Pass-Through (ICPT), Renewable Energy Fund, and Service Tax.
What is going to happen after NEM Rakyat’s new quota is fully subscribed?
At the moment, the authorities have yet to come out with a definitive policy to address the home solar implementation after the conclusion of NEM 3.0 next month. That being said, PETRA and the Energy Commission have jointly said that they are studying possible mechanisms that are more inclusive, fair, and beneficial to consumers.
In the meantime, you can monitor the availability of NEM Rakyat’s quota through the live dashboard that was set by the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) Malaysia right here.
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