PUTRAJAYA: A total of 6.96 million or 84.3% of users in the residential category in Peninsular Malaysia are not affected by the tax reform for electricity services to be implemented beginning March 1.
The Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry (Petra), in a statement on Thursday (Feb 29), said that a service tax would only be imposed for usage above 600kWj for electricity supply services.
"About 15.7% or 1.29 million consumers using electricity exceeding 600kWj will incur an increase of between RM0.01 and RM45.48 in their monthly bills, or 0% to 1.66% a month following the hike in service tax rate,” the statement said.
On Feb 28, 2024, the government announced a tax reform involving an increase in the service tax rate from 6% to 8%, effective March 1.
Petra said implementing targeted subsidies is among the approaches the government takes to ensure subsidies are given only to those who need assistance.
Therefore, the ministry suggests that consumers refer to their monthly electricity bills to monitor their power consumption and the subsidies given.
Consumers can also estimate their monthly electricity bill cost in the future by using the electricity tariff calculator on the myelectricitybill.my website, apart from consuming power wisely by utilising energy-saving electrical equipment.
They can also save on energy consumption by conducting power usage audits, monitoring and analysing their electricity usage, and identifying gadgets, processes, and systems that can be improved.
Consumers are also advised to use electrical appliances with a four- or five-star rating for more energy-saving and to conduct scheduled equipment maintenance.
"Consumers can also take advantage of the Net Energy Metering (NEM) Gomen and Nem Nova programmes to minimise their electricity bill cost,” it said.
The ministry also recently announced an additional quota of 100MW for NEM Rakyat and 300MW for Nem Nova. – Bernama
