President of ACCCIM, Datuk Ng Yih Pyng welcomes the Government’s resolution on 20
December 2024 to maintain electricity tariffs for the period from 1 January to 30 June 2025. This
is a relief and came at a good time as businesses still facing increased cost of doing business,
and the cost pressures will accelerate in 2025. We concur with YAB Prime Minister and Deputy
Prime Minister’s affirmation that the government will not allow electricity tariff hikes that would
burden the public.
The Chamber would like to express reservations on the Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB)’s
announcement that a new tariff schedule with a base tariff of 45.62 sen/kWh for Peninsular
Malaysia under Regulatory Period 4(RP4), 2025-2027, representing an increase of 14.2% from
39.95 sen/kWh under RP3 (2022-2024). The proposed new tariff schedule will be implemented
starting 1 July 2025, subjecting to the government’s approval after considering current coal, gas
and fuel prices.
Datuk Ng said that the electricity tariffs should remain unchanged throughout the year 2025 to
ease the financial burden of businesses. Businesses will incur a bunching of higher operating
costs in 2025, emanating from higher minimum wage, multi-tiered levy and the mandatory
contribution to the EPF by non-citizen workers, as well as the e-invoicing implementation, which
will be made mandatory for all businesses except those with an annual turnover of less than
RM150,000 starting 1 July 2025.
Additionally, the Trump’s trade tariffs and economic agenda
would cause disruptions to global trade, economic growth and investment flows that may have
impact on the Malaysian economy, domestic industries and exporters via the trade, income and
investment channels.
Datuk Ng said that it is crucial to emphasise that energy cost adjustments must be made with
careful consideration. While reflecting the changing fuel costs, it must foster efficient service
standards in the power generation business. A gradualist approach in the pricing of electricity
tariffs is deemed necessary to avoid a sudden shock and detrimental to national economic
development, especially for businesses and industries.
While the equity aspect of the electricity pricing is necessary for the targeted households, the
manufacturing industries also must be assisted through reasonable and competitive electricity
tariffs to help sustain cost competitiveness.
With the manufacturing sector being a major user of energy, it is essential to ensure a sustainable
development of the electricity market, reducing operational costs for micro and small-and medium
enterprises (MSMEs), high energy- and capital-intensive industries, including export-oriented
manufacturing goods to compete in the global marketplace
The industry players have expressed concerns about a lack of transparency and ambiguities in
the Imbalance Cost Pass -Through (ICPT) mechanism. These include the allocation of energy
cost adjustments among the users; the energy cost adjustments do not fully reflect moderation in
fuel costs, raising concerns about transparency, fairness and accountability, and the ICPT shall
take into consideration the cost efficiency and quality services reliability of TNB, and not solely on
the energy costs component.
In this regard, ACCCIM has recently submitted a policy paper on this subject to the Government
in addressing the complex issues associated with the determination of electricity tariffs, and
providing recommendations to advancing reforms for ensuring efficiency, sustainability and
competitiveness of Malaysia’s electricity market.
By striking a delicate balance between cost sustainability, competitiveness and service quality
(and affordability), the Government has to maintain a fair and equitable energy market while
safeguarding the interests of businesses, households and the overall economy.
