BUKIT GANTANG, July 12 — Some nine million domestic consumer accounts in the country are exempted from paying the imbalance cost pass-through (ICPT) surcharge, apart from the two sen per kilowatt hour (kWh) rebate given by the government, said Energy and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan.

He said the exemption caused the government to incur additional costs of RM5.8 billion from RM7 billion while RM1.2 billion was distributed to the industries.

"These are the huge industries that make millions in profit a month and they have been told to cover the subsidy for the people.

"In other countries, it is even worse, but here, the government still provides subsidies. This is good enough for our people and we hope the subsidies will continue, God willing,” he told a press conference at the Sungai Tinggi Multipurpose Hall near Sungai Kerang today.

On June 24, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) in a statement said the ICPT mechanism would continue to be implemented for the period July 1 to December 31, 2022, in line with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s announcement that the government had decided not to increase electricity and water tariff rates in the peninsula.

Takiyuddin said the government, in setting electricity tariffs in the country used the Incentive Based Regulation (IBR) and ICPT mechanisms, which meant the cost borne by TNB for energy.

"The cost for electricity generation from January to June this year involves RM7 billion. These additional costs cover the purchase of coal, gas and so forth, so these costs should be borne by consumers but the government decided as many as nine million domestic consumer accounts are exempted from paying the ICPT surcharge.

"We have to see how much is 100, 200 to 300 kilowatts per hour (kWh) and from there we will know how much the government subsidy is, while the industry and commercial sector need to pay 3.7 sen kWh when they should be paying 11.81 sen per kWh,” he said.

He said the subsidy on electricity bill would be recorded in the bill next month. — Bernama