IPOH, May 31 — The Energy and Natural Resources Ministry (KeTSA) has asked Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) to give an explanation on the issue of discounts and electricity bills which has sparked outrage among the public.

Its minister Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said he would be meeting TNB’s top management regarding the matter at his office in Putrajaya, tomorrow.

"As the minister for electricity supply, I am aware of the current situation related to billing by TNB,” he told Bernama via Whatsapp here today.

According to him,TNB will be represented by its President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan; Chief Retail Officer, Megat Jalaluddin Megat Hassan; Head of Billing, Baharudin Ismail and that the ministry’s secretary-general Datuk Zurinah Pawanteh and Energy Commission CEO  Abdul Razib Dawood will also be present.

Consumers have been voicing their dissatisfaction about TNB billing on various platforms including social media the last few days after the utility resumed manual reading of meters since May 15. This (manual reading pf meters) was stopped temporarily on March 18 when the government imposed the movement control order to tackle the spread of Covid-19 in the country.

On May 28, Shamsul Anuar in a press conference here had urged dissatisfied consumers to lodge complaints with TNB or the Energy Commission.

Because the Covid-19 pandemic was taking a heavy toll on the people and businesses, a range of discounts was given on electricity bills with domestic users getting two per cent discount on their bills from April 1 to September 30, 20, which is in addition to the six per cent in effect from January 1 to June, 30, 2020.

However, consumers became irate when they saw there was a spike in their bills. — Bernama