PETALING JAYA: The Sustainable Rebate and Incentive Assistance (SuRIA) Home initiative is expected to sustain residential solar adoption momentum despite lower incentives compared to the previous SolaRIS scheme, which supported by rising electricity costs, automatic fuel adjustment (AFA) surcharges and growing electric vehicle (EV) adoption, says Rakuten Trade head of equity sales Vincent Lau.
Lau said the rebates under the SuRIA Home programme “still provide some support”, noting that residential rooftop solar demand had previously weakened during periods without incentives as consumers delayed installations while waiting for clearer policy direction and new schemes under the Solar Accelerated Transition Action Programme (Solar ATAP).
“The early adopters received a better deal with more incentives.
“However, petrol prices are currently rising, and electricity tariffs will probably increase after the probable general election this year.
“If you factor this in, rooftop solar starts to make more sense for bigger households.
“For larger households, especially those with one or two EVs at home with their own EV charger, they will probably move ahead with rooftop solar installations.
“The fence-sitters may still wait and see how things develop, particularly with oil prices and the situation around the Strait of Hormuz.
“Overall, we still expect decent take-up. Once electricity tariffs eventually increase, adoption could accelerate further unless the quota gets filled first,” he told StarBiz, noting that the number of households falling into such a category is “not a lot” because of urban area locations.
The Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry launched the SuRIA Home initiative last week, which will commence from June 1, 2026. Under the initiative, domestic users who install solar systems under the Solar ATAP by Dec 31, 2026 can receive, on a first come first serve basis, a rebate of RM600 for every one kilowatt alternating current (kWac) of solar installation up to a maximum of RM3,000, or 5kWac.
The previous SolaRIS programme entailed RM1,000 per kWac incentive and a maximum cap of RM4,000.
TA Research said the SuRIA Home initiative can benefit up to 250 MWac of residential solar installations based on RM600 per kWac rebate and a total allocation of RM150mil for the program.
“Similar to the previous SolaRIS, we believe SuRIA Home could accelerate take up of residential rooftop solar, notwithstanding lower rebates under it compared with SolaRIS,” the research house said.
TA Research said the timely rollout of the SuRIA Home initiative comes as grid power becomes costlier due to the Middle East conflict.
Based on the latest projections by Tenaga Nasional Bhd
(as at April 30, 2026), the AFA rate is expected to turn from a rebate of 0.47 sen per kWh in April 2026 to a surcharge of 1.38 sen per kWh in May 2026 and surcharge of 2.92 sen per kWh in June 2026 due to rising fuel cost.
“These mark a significant increase compared to AFA rebate levels of up to 4.99 sen per kWh earlier in the year,” the research house said.
Lau said the government’s push through programmes like SuRIA Home aligns with its intention to reduce strain on the national grid and ensure reserve capacity to support increasing data centre demand and wider electrification trends.
“With Malaysia continuing to attract more data centres driven by narratives like ‘Middle East plus one’, power consumption will continue rising,” he said.
TA Research said the potential 250 MWac SuRIA-backed residential solar installations translate into engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning prospects worth an estimated RM875mil to RM1bil.
It reckons Northern Solar Holdings Bhd and Verdant Solar Holdings Bhd to be among the key beneficiaries of the SuRIA Home incentive, given their high exposure to the rooftop solar segment.
“Incumbents such as Samaiden Group Bhd, Sunview Group Bhd, Solarvest Holdings Bhd and Pekat Group Bhd are also potential beneficiaries, albeit to a smaller extent as their respective order books are largely driven by utility-scale solar projects,” the research house said.
TA Research maintained its “overweight” call on the utilities sector, premised on demand-supply tightness in the generation market and build-out of new gas-based power generation capacity, among other factors.
