What’s for Consumers in the Latest Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik

Malaysian have been taking to social media to complain about extremely high electricity bills multiple times above normal charges. To help lessen the burden, government introduced the Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik (BPE). Find out in detail about the latest PRIHATIN initiative.

To lessen the burden of Malaysian of receiving high electricity bills during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period, the government has introduced the Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik (BPE)

Energy and Natural Resources Minister, Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said that the assistance will benefit 7.66 million consumers in the residential and domestic properties in Peninsular Malaysia.

“Under the Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik, 52.2% or four million consumers in the domestic category, whose bill is below RM77 or electricity consumption is below 300-kilowatt-hour (kWh), will enjoy electricity for free for April, May and June this year. Consumers in the domestic category, whose electricity consumption is more than 300kWh, will receive a rebate of up to RM231 or RM77 monthly for electricity for April, May and June.” ~ Energy and Natural Resources Minister, Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah.

He added that the consumers that already paid their bills for the 3 months will see the credit in their July bill.

For domestic consumer with electricity usage between 601kWh and 900kWh, will benefit with additional 10% discount from existing discount of 2% from April until September 2020.

“A total 916,000, or 12 per cent, of total consumers will benefit from this discount,” he said.

Shamsul Anuar said RM942 million has been set aside for the Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik which will be jointly funded by Kumpulan Wang Industri Elektrik (KWIE), the Finance Ministry and Tenaga Nasional Bhd.

“Following the implementation of the Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik, the total discount given to consumers from April 1 until Sept 30 will increase to RM2.2 billion,” he added.

How is BPE calculated?

All domestic consumers will benefit from this additional assistance. People with an active Tenaga National Berhad (TNB) account will receive free electricity up to RM77 month or the first 300Kwh. This one-off asisstance allowed consumers to receive up to RM231 for 3 months period.

Source: TNB official website

Will BPE affect TNB’s operations?

The chairman of TNB, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid assured its consumers that the BPE assistance will not affect its operations or provisions of electric powers services

Matters related to TNB infrastructure maintenance will continue as usual.

“This is a shared responsibility between the government and TNB, so it will not be a problem for TNB. We are doing this for the benefit of the people, so everything that is related to electricity supply, wiring connections, repairs and maintenance will not be affected. Apart from announcements through the media, for more information, consumers could seek assistance at the TNB kiosks or contact the TNB careline. TNB takes full responsibility in informing customers on how their electricity bills are being calculated,” – Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.

Overall

This assistance is the government answer for the consumers outcry about their high electricity bills during the MCO period. Hopefully, this can help alleviate consumers costs for their utility bills especially during these tough times.

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Can this assistance help with the sudden spike in your electricity bills? Share with us in the comments section below.