The government has decided to maintain the electricity tariff rebate of 1.52 sen/kWh in the peninsula and 1.20 sen/kWh in Sabah and Labuan for the Jan 1-June 30 period next year, Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Maximus Ongkili said.

He said the government also decided to forgo the Imbalance Cost Pass Through (ICPT) cost savings of RM766.33 million through an electricity tariff rebate of 1.52 sen/kWh for all users in the peninsula except for those with monthly electricity consumption of below 300kW/h.

For Sabah and Labuan, he said a rebate of 1.20 sen/kWh would also be given to users under the same category.

"With the rebate retention, users will not be paying higher electricity bills if their total electricity consumption remains unchanged," he said in a statement yesterday.

Ongkili said the total rebates for electricity bills enjoyed by users from March 1, 2015 until June 30, 2017 was RM4.099 billion in the peninsula and RM126.26 million in Sabah.

On the adjustment of electricity tariff in the peninsula, he said the 1.52 sen/kWh rebate involved costs amounted to RM766.33 million provided through the revision of tariffs under the ICPT mechanism for the July 1-Dec 31 period this year.

"Among the factors that have contributed to the rebates were declining Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) prices in the world market, as well as higher efficiency of coal-fired power plants," he said.

In the government's quest to reduce fuel subsidies, Ongkili said the tariff revision also took into account an increase in piped gas price in the Peninsula by RM1.50/MMBtu to RM21.20/MMBtu from Jan 1 next year.

"The piped gas price increase does not affect consumers directly as it could be offset by a decline in the market price of LNG in the world market and the reduction in the volume LNG used in generating electricity," he said.

On adjustment of electricity tariff in Sabah and Labuan, he said the rebate of 1.20 sen/kWh could be absorbed through the provision of subsidies for medium fuel oil and diesel, as well as electricity tariffs support subsidy by the federal government totaling RM468 million.

He asserted that the electricity tariff rebates granted to all categories of consumers of Tenaga Nasional Bhd in the Peninsula and Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd in Sabah, except for domestic consumers using 300kWh of electricity and below per month, were not affected by any increase in electricity tariffs since Jan 1, 2014.

- Bernama