PUTRAJAYA, Jan 17 — The water tariff adjustment for Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan is reasonable and can benefit consumers in the long term through improved water supply services, said Deputy Minister of Energy Transition and Public Utilities Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir.
He said the tariff adjustment would lead to a more satisfactory quality of treated water and fewer water supply disruptions.
“Consumers can enjoy better infrastructure for water supply and this can tackle the crisis of frequent water supply cuts,” he said at a media session on the water tariff adjustment yesterday.
“However, consumers need to understand that not all the benefits from this upgrading will be realised in the short term. For example, operators may take a year to upgrade the water supply piping system and its impact may only be felt by consumers gradually after this period,” he said.
He said the daily operations and infrastructure development planning of operators would be affected if they faced financial deficits, resulting in a drop in the quality and level of services to consumers.
Akmal Nasrullah said to minimise the impact of the tariff hike, it was suggested that state governments and operator companies continue with existing initiatives to help affected consumers, especially the B40 group.
He said so far eight companies had agreed to ensure that this group would not be impacted by the tariff adjustment, including by giving them rebates.
“Some states are using the existing data list, for example e-Kasih, while in the long term when the Central Database Hub (Padu) system is in use and according to the government’s determination on targeted aid, we will ask for the list to be streamlined so that the benefits will reach them,” he added.
Padu was launched on January 2 to serve as the prime source of data for the government to roll out targeted aid and subsidies more efficiently.
SPAN today announced that the water tariff adjustment for domestic consumers in Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan will take effect on February 1, involving an average increase of 22 sen per cubic metre.
Akmal Nasrullah said the water tariff rates could not be standardised for all states because of the different costs for operators to provide the services and infrastructure development needs.
At a briefing held during the session, SPAN said the tariff adjustment for the domestic category, which was set based on the Tariff Setting Mechanism, was decided by the Cabinet on December 13 last year.
SPAN said the adjustment was undertaken to tackle current issues, especially concerning the efficiency, quality and sustainability of water supply services by operators, and to encourage water conservation.
Air Selangor is expected to generate the highest income, amounting to RM105 million a year, which it plans to use to resolve the issue of damaged pipes and improve water quality in the Klang Valley.
It proposes to replace 300 kilometres of pipes a year beginning this year and to complete the project in 2026.
Penang is expected to generate an income of RM86 million a year, which it plans to use to reduce non-revenue water (NRW) by replacing pipes and to ensure adequate water supply. — Bernama
