Electricity up 15% for Sabah, Labuan!

Sabah, Labuan power tariff hike

KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional Bhd's (TNB) subsidiary Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB), which has received the nod for a 15% power tariff hike in Sabah and Labuan from the Government, will implement the new tariff structure from July 15.

The tariff will be revised to 29.25 sen per kiloWatt hour (kWh), which is an increase of 3.75 sen per kWh from the present 25.5 sen kWh.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, TNB said the new tariff was to ensure that SESB would continue to provide reliable electricity supply to Sabah and Labuan.

“The new tariff structure is also to promote efficient utilisation of electricity by the consumers. In addition, it has minimal impact on lower income households and small businesses,” it said.

The utility giant said the tariff for Labuan would be re-aligned to mainland Sabah since the former was supplied from the Sabah network system, and more appropriate to be subjected to Sabah's cost of supply structure rather than that of Peninsular Malaysia.

TNB said 75% of domestic consumers in Sabah and Labuan with consumption of 350 kWh and below would experience no increase in their monthly bills while the electricity rebate by the Government for domestic consumers with a monthly bill of not more than RM20 will be maintained until year-end.

Meanwhile, low voltage commercial consumers within 1 to 200 kWh band (33% of commercial consumers) will see a maximum of 3% addition or RM2 in their monthly bills and low voltage industrial consumers within 1 to 2,000 kWh band (61% of industrial consumers) will see no impact to their electricity bills.

TNB will also be introducing new peak/off-peak tariff classes for existing and new medium voltage commercial and industrial consumers.

This will give potential savings to those who can shift their usage to off-peak periods. The company said it would impose a reduction of up 50% on consumer connection charges for new supply connections which would reduce the upfront capital cost in starting businesses, thus spurring economic growth in the state. The revised charges will be implemented effective Jan 1, 2012. A 10% discount is given for approved non-profitable welfare organisations, places of worship and Government education institutions (fully or partly funded).

In order to encourage efficient use of energy, TNB said higher consumption would be charged higher rates to curb energy wastage, thus helping to conserve depleting resources and address climate change. It is also waiving all meter rentals for all consumers in Sabah and Labuan.

“This tariff restructuring will rationalise and re-balance the subsidy distribution in the power sector so that the targeted poor will continue to be protected while subsidy to the well-off segment will be reduced. The gradual subsidy rationalisation will also mean that more allocation can be channelled to other deserving sectors and for the development of needed infrastructure,” TNB said.

It added that the new tariff structure gave the appropriate pricing signal and was in line with the country's objective to promote efficient and sustainable use of energy, thus conserving depleting energy resources and address climate change.