{"id":6102,"date":"2011-05-31T15:53:13","date_gmt":"2011-05-31T07:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buletinonline.net\/v7\/index.php\/2011\/05\/power-generation-sector-in-dire-need-of-structural-reform\/"},"modified":"2011-05-31T15:53:13","modified_gmt":"2011-05-31T07:53:13","slug":"power-generation-sector-in-dire-need-of-structural-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/power-generation-sector-in-dire-need-of-structural-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Power Generation Sector In Dire Need Of Structural Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/buletinonline.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"http:\/\/www.buletinonline.net\/http:\/\/buletinonline.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb.jpg\" width=\"314\" height=\"186\" style=\"float: left;\" \/>The announcement of a hike in electricity tariff does not come as a surprise to the public. Barisan Nasional is presented with only one option if it is serious in reforming and resuscitating Malaysia\u2019s under-performing economy: confront the largesse of the elite political-business group that had profited tremendously at the expense of the public by dismantling lopsided agreements that have long caused structural damages to our economy. However, Barisan Nasional has proven time and time again that it lacks courage and political will to undo the crony-capitalism from which it has benefited for a long time.<\/p>\n<p>Barisan Nasional claims that the tariff hike will not affect 4.4 million households as the tariff for the usage of 300 kWh per month and below is left unchanged. The monthly electricity bill for these households may not increase much as a result of the tariff hike, but their disposable income will definitely be affected by the ever rising inflation. There are also other households or dwellings (including accommodations shared by students or workers) whose monthly electricity bill is above RM77 a month which will be affected directly by the tariff hike.<\/p>\n<p>The last time the tariff was reviewed that affects the majority of domestic customers was in June 2006. The baseline tariff for the first 200 kWh per month was also maintained at the current 21.8 sen per kWh. In spite of this, 2006 saw the second highest inflation rate for the second half of the last decade at 3.6%. The only time when price increase was higher was in 2008 during the sudden petrol and diesel price hike.<\/p>\n<p>A closer look at the inflation data in 2006 will reveal that a combination of electricity tariff and petrol\/diesel price hikes was the main factor that had led to the increase in inflation.<\/p>\n<p>Barisan Nasional is repeating the same prescription in 2006 for 2011 \u2013 a combination of price increases for basic goods that include sugar, petrol, diesel and now electricity. The combined effect of this will see the inflation for 2011 surpassing that of 2006 and inflict difficulties to millions of households whose meagre disposable income will be reduced further. <\/p>\n<p>The public does not need a unilateral withdrawal of subsidies that cause these price hikes. Any responsible government facing a dual deficit and inflation crisis in Putrajaya should summon all the political will and moral courage to go to the root cause of these problems.<\/p>\n<p>The power generation sector in this country is shackled with the legacy of lopsided agreements which continue to exact economic pains on the public. TNB has to buy electricity at the much higher rate than its own cost from IPPs. In order to balance the price, TNB and IPPs were given huge gas subsidies borne by PETRONAS each year. <\/p>\n<p>Barisan Nasional\u2019s announcement yesterday hardly scratches the surface of the complexity of the power generation sector that requires urgent reform. The tariff hike will compensate TNB for the reduction of subsidies due to a gas price increase from RM10.70 to RM13.70 per mmbtu. All in all, the result is constant: TNB achieves a status quo financially, the public bears the burden from the tariff hike and IPP is not affected at all from this exercise due to the fuel pass through mechanism. Instead of reforming the fuel pass through mechanism that IPPs enjoy all this while, Barisan Nasional introduced a fuel pass through mechanism for the public where any change in the fuel cost (gas, oil and coal) will be passed to the public through a change in tariff, reviewed every 6 months.<\/p>\n<p>This is nothing more than a cosmetic change put in place to calm the voice calling for reforms of the power generation sector that is growing louder. Barisan Nasional can hope to disguise this as an economic reform aimed at reducing subsidies, but the public will judge otherwise. In effect, it is taking more money from public\u2019s pocket to give to corporate companies for the meagre cut in gas subsidies.<\/p>\n<p><em>***Media Statement Rafizi Ramli, Director of Strategy, PKR<\/em><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal<\/w:View> <w:Zoom>0<\/w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning \/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas \/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false<\/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false<\/w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false<\/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables \/> <w:SnapToGridInCell \/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct \/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules \/> <w:DontGrowAutofit \/> <\/w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4<\/w:BrowserLevel> <\/w:WordDocument> <\/xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState=\"false\" LatentStyleCount=\"156\"> <\/w:LatentStyles> <\/xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>\n\n\n<style>\n \/* Style Definitions *\/\n table.MsoNormalTable\n\t{mso-style-name:\"Table Normal\";\n\tmso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;\n\tmso-tstyle-colband-size:0;\n\tmso-style-noshow:yes;\n\tmso-style-parent:\"\";\n\tmso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;\n\tmso-para-margin:0in;\n\tmso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;\n\tmso-pagination:widow-orphan;\n\tfont-size:10.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\";\n\tmso-ansi-language:#0400;\n\tmso-fareast-language:#0400;\n\tmso-bidi-language:#0400;}\n<\/style>\n\n\n<![endif]--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The announcement of a hike in electricity tariff does not come as a surprise to the public. Barisan Nasional is presented with only one option if it is serious in reforming and resuscitating Malaysia\u2019s under-performing economy: confront the largesse of the elite political-business group that had profited tremendously at the expense of the public by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6101,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"better_featured_image":{"id":6101,"alt_text":"http:\/\/www.buletinonline.net\/images\/stories\/berita48\/tnb.jpg","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":314,"height":226,"file":"2011\/05\/tnb.jpg","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"tnb-150x150.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-150x150.jpg"},"medium":{"file":"tnb-300x215.jpg","width":300,"height":215,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-300x215.jpg"},"singlegalthumb":{"file":"tnb-55x45.jpg","width":55,"height":45,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-55x45.jpg"},"featbigimg":{"file":"tnb-314x215.jpg","width":314,"height":215,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-314x215.jpg"},"featgalimg":{"file":"tnb-216x125.jpg","width":216,"height":125,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-216x125.jpg"},"featgalsliderimg":{"file":"tnb-298x226.jpg","width":298,"height":226,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-298x226.jpg"},"colorcontentblock1":{"file":"tnb-146x85.jpg","width":146,"height":85,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-146x85.jpg"},"colorcontentblock2":{"file":"tnb-314x217.jpg","width":314,"height":217,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-314x217.jpg"},"colorcontentblock3":{"file":"tnb-173x137.jpg","width":173,"height":137,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-173x137.jpg"},"colorcontentblock3a":{"file":"tnb-173x75.jpg","width":173,"height":75,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-173x75.jpg"},"colorcontentblock4":{"file":"tnb-205x120.jpg","width":205,"height":120,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-205x120.jpg"},"colorcontentblock5":{"file":"tnb-220x226.jpg","width":220,"height":226,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-220x226.jpg"},"colorcontentblock6":{"file":"tnb-220x146.jpg","width":220,"height":146,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-220x146.jpg"},"colorcontentblock8":{"file":"tnb-314x190.jpg","width":314,"height":190,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-314x190.jpg"},"colorcontentblock9":{"file":"tnb-314x190.jpg","width":314,"height":190,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-314x190.jpg"},"colorcontentblock10":{"file":"tnb-210x146.jpg","width":210,"height":146,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-210x146.jpg"},"relatedimg":{"file":"tnb-150x125.jpg","width":150,"height":125,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb-150x125.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":0,"credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":0,"copyright":"","focal_length":0,"iso":0,"shutter_speed":0,"title":""}},"post":6103,"source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/tnb.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post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