KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 — The government has decided to extend discounts offered on electricity bills, as announced under the Prihatin Economic Stimulus Package, until December this year.

The three-month extension will benefit up to 7.66 million domestic users in peninsula and up to 520,000 and 580,000 in Sabah and Sarawak respectively, according to Energy and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Shamsul Anuar Nasarah.

The offer was supposed to end in October.

For those in the peninsula, Shamsul Anuar said the extension will also apply to users whose electricity usage is between 601 and 900kWj. They have been enjoying a 10 per cent discount under the Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik (BPE) scheme announced on June 20.

"Domestic users in Sabah and Sarawak on the other hand will continue enjoying discounts on their electric bills of two per cent until December 31, 2020.

"The three-month discount extension for users in peninsular Malaysia will be borne by using funds from the Kumpulan Wang Industri Elektrik (KWIE) estimated to be around RM392 million.

"…while the discounts for Sabah and Sarawak will be borne by the Ministry of Finance with an estimated allocation of around RM6 million.

"This brings the total costs involved for offering electricity bill discounts from April to December 2020 to RM2.62 billion,” Shamsul Anuar said.

Today’s announcement comes in the wake of continued public outcry over a sudden spike in electricity bills when national energy company Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) adopted an aggregation reading of meter during the movement control order (MCO).

On June 20, the government and TNB announced the BPE as an additional aid to benefit all domestic customers in the form of free electricity of up to RM231 for the three months during the MCO from April to June 2020.