Industries and general public in Sarawak will receive a special discount on their electricity bill starting January all the way to June under the PERMAI package announced by the Prime Minister. The relief is part of governments initiative to alleviate the current difficult period under MCO 2.0 which if effecting a number of states.
Even though Sarawak is not under the lockdown, the state utility board, Sarawak Energy Berhad is proceeding with the assistance under its Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS 5.0) as mentioned. The state-owned SEB said in a statement today that the discounts will be reflected in the electricity bills from Jan 25 onwards.
“Customers who have been billed for their electricity consumption prior to Jan 25 will have their discounts for that period reflected in their electricity bills by March,” it said.
Under BKSS 5.0, about 640,000 customers from the domestic, commercial and industrial sectors will receive a five to 25 per cent discount on their electricity bills from Jan 1 to June 30. The discount will cost the state government approximately RM166.2 million. According to SEB, six commercial sectors are eligible for a 15 per cent discount for their electricity consumption from Jan 1 until March 31. They are hotel operators, theme parks, convention centres, shopping malls, local airline offices, and travel and tour agencies.
“Of the 15 per cent, 10 per cent is provided under the federal government’s PERMAI and five per cent provided under the Sarawak government’s BKSS 5.0 package.
“Although the federal subsidy for these sectors ends in March, the Sarawak government will ensure these sectors will continue to have 15 per cent discount by topping up the additional 10 per cent subsidy from April to June 2021,” it added.
