Rebates for power consumers from Jan to June next year

The ministry, in a statement yesterday, clarified the situation on the short-term agreements

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has announced a rebate of 1.52 sen per Kwh for nearly all consumers from Jan 1 to June 30 next year due to the lower fuel and generation costs.

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) said on Wednesday the imbalance cost pass-through (ICPT) rebate would benefit all consumers except households with consumption of 300kWh and below.

“This ICPT rebate amounts to RM766.33mil and is made possible due to lower liquefied natural gas (LNG) price, higher performance of coal power plants and a reduction in the use of gas for electricity generation,” it explained.

TNB said the rebate also considered additional gas cost following the government’s subsidy rationalisation plan and decision to further increase the piped gas price from the current RM19.70/mmBTU to RM21.20/mmBTU. The new gas price will be effective from Jan 1, 2017.

The ICPT is a government-approved mechanism and implemented by Suruhanjaya Tenaga since Jan 1, 2014. This was part of a wider regulatory reform called the incentive based regulation. 

The ICPT mechanism allows TNB to reflect changes in fuel and generation costs in consumer’s electricity tariff every six months, subject to government’s decision and approval.  

“TNB also wishes to inform that the impact of ICPT implementation is neutral on TNB and will not have any effect to its business operations and financial position,” it said.