The government will hold a special meeting tomorrow to review immediate measures to ease the impact of higher electricity bills on affected households, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said.
The meeting will involve the Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (PETRA), Energy Commission, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) and the Ministry of Finance.
Anwar said the government had taken note of public concerns over rising electricity bills, with some households seeing higher charges after their monthly electricity consumption exceeded 600 kilowatt-hours (kWh).
He said around 80% of domestic users consuming no more than 600 kWh a month remained protected from the increase in electricity rates following higher fuel costs this year.
However, haze and hotter weather in recent weeks had driven up electricity consumption among some households, causing their monthly usage to exceed the 600 kWh threshold and making them subject to the Automatic Fuel Cost Adjustment (AFA).
“I want to stress that efforts to target subsidies will continue to be upheld to protect the majority of the people,” Anwar said in a statement today.
“Therefore, the government will hold a special meeting tomorrow with the Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (PETRA), Energy Commission (ST), Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) and Ministry of Finance (MOF) to examine immediate mitigation measures to reduce the impact of the increase in electricity bills on affected households.”
Anwar said the government would continue to ensure that subsidy targeting measures were implemented fairly and reasonably, with the interests and welfare of the people remaining a priority.
