‘Complement RM40 rebate from fed govt with RM20 rebate’
KUCHING: The Sarawak government should complement the federal government’s RM40 monthly rebate for eligible households registered under the e-Kasih system by maintaining the RM20 rebate policy implemented by former chief minister, the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem.
In asserting this yesterday, Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Chong Chieng Jen said the federal government’s RM40 rebate is a nationwide policy mainly for the B40 group, more importantly for the group of users or consumers who are registered under the eKasih programme.
From Jan 1, the new policy will see 185,000 eligible households registered under the e-Kasih system benefit from the RM40 rebate per month.
“But it is sad to see that this policy has been taken advantage of by the state government in that the state government has taken this opportunity to revoke the RM20 electricity charges rebate that was implemented by the late Adenan Satem.
“Why I say that the state government has taken advantage of the good policy of the federal government? Because not all the poor are registered under eKasih, and not all those who are very thrifty or use very little electricity are registered for eKasih especially if you’re talking about the rural areas.
“For those who have previously benefited from the policy of the late Adenan Satem, some of them, they use very little electricity and a lot of them are those in the longhouses and the rural areas. And among them I think substantial numbers are not registered in the e-Kasih.
“So I think it is despicable of the state government to take advantage over the poorer and less educated group especially those in the rural areas by taking this opportunity to do away with the late Adenan Satem’s policy,” he told The Borneo Post here.
He was asked to comment on a recent announcement advertised by Syarikat Sesco Berhad in many local dailies on ‘Implementation of RM40 Electricity Bill Rebate starting January 2019’.
The announcement pointed out: “Following this new initiative, the current RM20 electricity rebate will be discontinued effective January 2019.”
Chong, who is Stampin MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman, opined that the RM20 electricity rebate implemented by the late Adenan should be continued to supplement the federal RM40 rebate given to those registered under the eKasih system.
“That should be the way the state government should be doing, if they have the interest of the poorer or the rural community at their heart.
“After all, with the implementation of the federal government’s policy of RM40 rebate, that would really save a lot of money.
“I think those (registered under the) e-Kasih system will enjoy RM40 rebate and you (state government) don’t have to give them RM20 rebate any more as it will be taken care of by the federal government.
“Why you (state government) want to widen your savings at the expense of those who are not registered under e- Kasih?” he pointed out.
Adenan announced the state government’s decision to reduce electricity tariffs ranging from two per cent to over 40 per cent in Nov 2014 that took effect from Jan 1, 2015.
As a result almost 60,000 customers joined the 70,000 already eligible for the federal government’s RM20 subsidy.
This means that approximately 130,000 low income customers in Sarawak have been receiving a zero monthly bill.
He said such tariff revision was designed to provide the greatest assistance to low-income customers.
When contacted, a spokesperson for Sarawak Energy Berhad ( SEB) said they are not at liberty to issue a statement on the issue as it is a policy decision of the Sarawak government under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Utilities.
An attempt to get comments from Minister of Utilities Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom was unsuccessful at press time.