Empowering people and the economy
Power giant Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) is the leading electricity provider in Malaysia
Boasting over nine million customers and riding an investment wave comprising a staggering $4.58 billion over a three-year period from 2018 to 2020, TNB is providing the power platform to energize the economy, as former president and CEO, Datuk Seri Ir. Azman Bin Mohd is eager to highlight.
“TNB began as a government-owned electricity utility 70 years ago,” he states. “Our decades of experience mean we have enormous technical competency in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. We built Malaysia’s entire power industry, from laying cables to establishing a cable factory, switchgear production, transformer production—we have done everything. Today, we are in competition with independent power producers that have their roots in TNB. We are very open to this competition as we want the industry to grow.” TNB, through its grid division, has a monopoly on grid and transmission-line infrastructure, and distribution networks.
“Every three years, we discuss with the regulator how much return TNB should get, based on our assets and the investment we are making. We have just started our second fixed period and after benchmarking rates of return for utilities across the world, we settled on 7.3 percent for the next three years. We are investing about $4.58 billion.” As a vertically integrated utility company, TNB has already unlocked the rich potential in generation, transmission and distribution activities, and is now establishing subsidiaries to build upon its success and growth platforms.
“The future is in renewable energy,” the dynamic senior executive continues. “There are no two ways around it. TNB is not in the fossil fuel business, it is in the energy business. So, if renewable energy is the future, we will invest in that and move away from fossil fuels, as we have already started to do.” With more than 35,000 employees and a strong growth strategy, TNB is looking to foreign markets to continue its upward trajectory. “The Malaysian market is not big enough for the growth aspirations we have set. TNB is a world-class power company that believes in the right values of making better, brighter lives possible, the same values that are carried to any country where it invests. It is a company like no other as electricity and energy truly empowers people. When and wherever it is made available to everyone, a country can grow and flourish.”
“TNB is a world-class power company that believes in the right values of making better, brighter lives possible, the same values that are carried to any country where it invests.” Datuk Seri Ir. Azman Bin Mohd
Former President and CEO, Tenaga Nasional Berhad