Fomca: Review current tariff block structure

The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca), while welcoming the Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik Tambahan scheme, has requested that the government review the current tariff block structure on grounds that it is outdated.

Fomca chief operation officer T. Saravanan said the current block punishes consumers whose consumption was high even if it was meant to encourage energy efficiency.

The government yesterday announced electricity bill rebates and discounts totalling RM942mil for domestic users for April, May and June.

“With this current initiative, Fomca believes the burden of most consumers would be eased and they would have more time to recover financially,” Saravanan said in a statement.

Saravanan, who is also the Water and Energy Consumers Associations of Malaysia (Wecam) president, urged consumers to monitor their expenses carefully.

“Consumers should adopt energy-efficient lifestyles as they would be able to see savings of up to 25% by using energy-efficient appliances at home,” he said.

Fomca also urged the relevant authorities to expedite the installation of smart meters to prevent problems if another movement control order (MCO) were to be implemented so that bills based on estimates would not be issued.

Smart meters enable consumers to get real-time usage data every half an hour, thus they would be able to get their exact electric bill readings at the end of the billing cycle at midnight every day, he said.

The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) also lauded the government’s move to provide additional discounts and rebates for domestic electricity consumers.

Its president, Adnan Mat, said such initiative would provide wider benefits to the consumers. — Bernama