We refer to the Malaysiakini article Review IPP deals first, not power tariffs .

Penjanabebas, the Association of Independent Power Producers in Malaysia, would like to respond to the above article in which SM Mohamed Idris of the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) raised a number of recycled issues pertaining to the role of the independent power producers in Malaysia.

Idris is not doing justice to the public by taking a simplistic stance on complex issues related to power generation.

In addition, his populist approach does not serve to bring about an informed society on the challenges faced by the generation sector from the impact of a volatile global energy prices.

Despite our repeated attempts to seek a meeting with CAP to explain the issues in the hope that any public debate should be based on an informed basis, it is regrettable that CAP has not responded to such attempts.

In his article, Idris made constant reference that IPPs made ‘excess profits’. Penjanabebas does not know the benchmark used by CAP to define ‘excess’ but we would like to maintain that given the huge combined investments of tens of billion of ringgit into IPP projects, the returns are consistent with other major infrastructure industries in Malaysia.

The argument that IPPs operate in an ‘almost no risk’ environment is misleading. IPPs bear commercial, operational and performance risks.

We regret that Penjanabebas’ call for a holistic review of the power industry is seen by CAP negatively. A review is necessary to address common issues and challenges faced by the industry to enable the country to move forward.

The writer acts on behalf of the honorary secretary, Council of Penjanabebas.