SHAH ALAM Sept 26th: Pakatan MPs are urging the federal government to shed light on the proposed increase in electricity tariff expected next year.
The call for explanation was made via a joint statement by Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin, Serdang MP Dr Ong Kian Ming, and Hulu Langat MP Dr. Che Rosli Che Mat.
According to them, the agreement between TNB and Independent Power Producers (IPP) should be reviewed because the charges applied by IPPs to TNB is too extreme.
“This is because IPP get subsidiseds Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Petronas, which earns them huge profit margins with low-cost structures,” the statement said.
Previously, the Chairman of Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), Datuk Seri Azman Mohd, proposed the government to consider increasing electricity tariffs to more than 200 kwh to local consumers.
They also demanded for an explanation from the central government about the sales of LNG fuel at cheaper prices whilst the people have to contend with the fuel price hike.
Since 1997, they said, the government has set the price of gas sold to IPP based on the LNG’s market price of RM49.12 per-million BTU in 2012, but now it is being sold to IPP RM10.70.
They also expressed their unhappiness with IPP getting 80 percent discount, comparing that to the market price of LNG that caused the government to suffer a loss of the country’s high income.