PUTRAJAYA, Dec 22 — Households using between 600 and 1,500kWh of electricity monthly will no longer receive rebates starting January 1 next year under a new tariff rate set for the first half of 2024.

The decision is expected to increase the power bill of just over a million domestic users who could pay between RM12 and RM32 more monthly depending on usage, the government said in a statement issued this evening.

Businesses as well as lower- to middle-income households will not be affected by the biannual tariff review.

Homes that use 600kWh will still enjoy a 2 sen rebate per kWH used, which Putrajaya said covers 88 per cent of domestic consumers while heavy users, those seen as using 1,500kWh, will continue to pay a surcharge of 10 sen per kWh.

Tariffs and surcharges for businesses will remain at the same rate for the first half of 2024.

The rebate waiver is expected to save the government over RM266 million in subsidies.

Total projected electricity subsidies to be paid to Tenaga Nasional by the Treasury for the first half of 2024 will still be some RM1.4 billion.

The move comes as the government of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is set to cut back on its blanket subsidy spending for 2024.

Anwar said upon taking office his administration would recalibrate billions of ringgit in government assistance so it would redistribute only towards those who genuinely deserve, in an attempt to plug wastage.

The government said over 50 per cent of electricity subsidies went into upper middle income and rich households under a blanket subsidy regime, which is being phased out starting next year.

Analysts have welcomed the decision saying it would allow the government to target assistance more effectively, and curb public wastage that had been largely shaped by decades-long addiction to subsidies.