Electricity tariff adjustment for T20 to be announced soon, says minister

The government is expected to announce the electricity tariff adjustment for domestic consumers in the T20 income group soon, says Natural Resources, Environment, and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

He said the government must take into account various factors including the trend of coal and gas prices which have stabilised over the past few years, before adjusting the electricity tariff.

"We have long kept the price (of coal and gas fuel) very low... that’s why the tariff increase is quite drastic. So that is a factor to consider.

"God willing, we will announce it in the near future. Give us time. I have not even discussed it with the Cabinet," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said the adjustment would be made based on the imbalance cost pass-through mechanism for a period of six months, from July to December this year.
 
Yesterday, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that those in the T20 group would not benefit from electricity subsidies and haj financial assistance.

Meanwhile, Nik Nazmi said the government had saved more than RM4 billion from the RM15 billion allocated for flood mitigation projects announced by the previous government.

He said the savings were the result of a better procurement method implemented by the government through open tenders.