HIGHER CHARGES
BUSINESSES will have to pay an additional 1.35 sen per kWh surcharge from tomorrow. Tenaga Nasional Bhd says this is due to the rising fuel and generation costs. However, residential customers with monthly consumption below 300kWh will not be affected.
BUSINESSES will have to pay for higher energy cost in the next six months, following an additional surcharge of 1.35 sen per kiloWatt hour (kWh) to be imposed by Tenaga Nasional Bhd from tomorrow.
TNB said the surcharge, which was due to rising fuel and generation costs, was provided for under the Imbalance Cost PassThrough (ICPT) mechanism.
The mechanism allows TNB to reflect changes in fuel and generation costs in consumers’ electricity tariff every six months.
In a statement to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, TNB said the government, via an Energy Commission letter dated June 28, had approved the ICPT implementation for the period from tomorrow till December 31 this year.
Residential customers with monthly consumption below 300kWh will not be affected by the ICPT implementation. For those with monthly consumption above 300kWh, the surcharge cost will be funded by Kumpulan Wang Industri Elektrik.
TNB said the average base tariff would remain unchanged at 39.45 sen per kWh. However, due to higher fuel and generation costs from January 1 to June 30, the additional cost of RM698.19 million, or 1.35 sen per kWh, surcharge will be passed through via the ICPT mechanism.
TNB said the ICPT implementation would not have any effect on its businesses and financial position.
Alan Richardson, investment manager at Samsung Asset Management Co in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg the latest ICPT implementation showed that the government would allow companies to be run on “commercial terms”.
Meanwhile, TNB led Bursa Malaysia’s 30 index-linked stocks in posting gains on the last trading day for the first half of the year.
Its shares rose more than 10 per cent before settling 7.17 per cent, or 98 sen, higher to RM14.64.
Analysts said TNB’s shares had been bashed down quite substantially, presumably given the perceived risk on its ability to attain a tariff hike and its reasonablyhigh foreign shareholding of 24 per cent.
MIDF Research said it had seen TNB stock value emerging, given a substantial price depreciation in the past month.
The firm, which has kept its “buy” call and target price of RM16.30 in tact on TNB, said the group’s dividend yields were now attractive at 5.3 per cent.