PUTRAJAYA: A total of 6.96 million or 84.3 per cent of users in the residential category in Peninsular Malaysia are not affected by the tax reform for electricity services to be implemented beginning March 1.
The Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry (PETRA), in a statement today, said for electricity supply services, service tax will only be imposed for usage above 600kWj.
“About 15.7 per cent or 1.29 million consumers using electricity exceeding 600kWj will incur an increase of between RM0.01 and RM45.48 in their monthly bills, or zero per cent to 1.66 per cent a month following the hike in service tax rate,” the statement said.
The government on Feb 28, 2024 announced a tax reform involving an increase in service tax rate from six per cent to eight per cent effective March 1.
PETRA said the implementation of targeted subsidies is among the approaches taken by the government to ensure subsidies are given only to those who need assistance.
Therefore, the ministry suggests that consumers refer to their monthly electricity bills to monitor their power consumption and the subsidies given.
Consumers can also estimate their monthly electricity bill cost in the future by using the electricity tariff calculator on the myelectricitybill.my website, apart from consuming power wisely by utilising energy-saving electrical equipment.
They can also save on energy consumption by conducting power usage audits by monitoring and analysing their electricity usage and identifying gadgets, processes and systems which can be improved.
Consumers are also advised to use electrical appliances with a four- or five-star rating to enjoy more energy-saving as well as conduct scheduled maintenance of equipment.
“Consumers can also take advantage of the Net Energy Metering (NEM) GoMEn and NEM NOVA programmes as a move to minimise their electricity bill cost,” it said.
The ministry also announced an additional quota of 100MW for NEM Rakyat and 300MW for NEM NOVA recently. -Bernama
