Malaysian utility giant Tenaga Nasional Berhad on Thursday said its first quarter net profit surged 109 percent from the three months to November due to a tariff hike and rise in power demand.

"The group's performance was supported by the combination of an increase in electricity unit demand growth of 4.6 percent as well as the new tariff (hike) effective June 1 2006," it said in a statement.

Tenaga's net profit for the three-month period was RM1.25 billion (US$356 million) compared with RM595.6 million the year before.

The improved earnings was also due to the write-back of deferred tax provision from the reduction of the corporate income tax rate to 27 percent from 28 percent, it said.