Thanks to UMNO, people like JJ are laughing to the banks

For those whose previously electricity bills ranged from RM120-RM200. The percentage increase will be more than 17 per cent for those whose monthly bills were higher than RM200 under the old tariff structure.

That’s because, while the domestic tariffs for the first 300kWh remain unchanged (RM0.218/kWh and RM0.334/kWh), TNB has come up with a hefty 29 per cent hike in tariff for the 100kWh threshold immediately above that (from RM0.40 previously to RM0.516 now).

Funnily enough, if you consume more than 900kWh, the increase in the uppermost threshold is only about 26 per cent (from RM0.454 to RM0.571).

While it is important to conserve electricity and find renewable sources of energy, we also seem to be paying the price for all those years of huge profits for the independent power producers under lopsided concession agreements – which were at the expense of TNB. That was under Mahathir’s privatisation policy.

Still, let’s not forget that TNB posted a profit before tax of RM5.9bn for its last financial year.

Now you see why the attention of the public has to be diverted by all sorts of antics?

Calculate how the new electricity tariffs will affect you.

TARIFF CATEGORY		CURRENT RATES ( 1 JUNE 2011)	NEW RATES (1 JANUARY 2014)
1.	Tariff A – Domestic Tariff
	For the first 200 kWh (1 – 200 kWh) per month	21.80 sen/kWh	21.80 sen/kWh
	For the next 100 kWh (201 – 300 kWh) per month	33.40 sen/kWh	33.40 sen/kWh
	For the next 100 kWh (301 – 400 kWh) per month	40.00 sen/kWh	51.60 sen/kWh
	For the first 100kWh (401 – 500 kWh) per month	40.20 sen/kWh
	For the next 100 kWh (501 – 600 kWh) per month	41.60 sen/kWh
	For the next 100 kWh (601 – 700 kWh) per month	42.60 sen/kWh	54.60 sen/kWh
	For the next 100 kWh (701 – 800 kWh) per month	43.70 sen/kWh
	For the next 100 kWh (801 – 900 kWh) per month	45.30 sen/kWh
	For the next kWh (901 kWh onwards) per month	45.40 sen/kWh	57.10 sen/kWh
	The minimum monthly charge is RM3.00

Anil Netto