Chew: Removal of electricity rebate goes against Pakatan’s pledge to reduce cost of living

(The Star) – The Pakatan Harapan Government has broken its pledge to reduce the cost of living, following its decision to discontinue electricity rebate, said Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun.

The MCA vice-president said terminating the rebate was similar to raising electricity tariffs.

“Effective July 1, electricity price has been raised by 3.42% for companies and this will inherently translate into an indirect increase of financial burden on the average Malaysians,” she said.

She said households which use around RM77 to RM600 will feel the biggest pinch as they will experience a rise of 3% to 6.28% in their bills. 

She cited Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia (AWER) senior manager Lin Su Fang, who in a press statement said the imbalance cost pass-through (ICPT) surcharge of 1.35 sen/kWh has not only hiked up the electricity tariff for the commercial side, but has also jacked up the price of household electricity bills.

Calling for the Government to rethink their decision to halt the rebate, Chew said the move goes against Pakatan’s election promise to reduce the cost of living for Malaysia.

“They hid the discontinuation well inside their announcement of hiking only the tariff for commercial operations,” she added.

Tenaga Nasional Bhd has announced that the present 1.52sen/kWh tariff rebate in Peninsular Malaysia would be discontinued, and a 1.35sen/kWh tariff surcharge (amounting to RM698 million) to be imposed for the second half of this year.