Govt reviewing surcharge, subscription period for Green Electricity Tariff

• The premium, currently charged at 21.8 sen per kilowatt-hour (kWh), will be reviewed “so it is more competitive and attractive”, said the Ministry of Energy Transition and Public Utilities.

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 29): The government is reviewing the surcharge and subscription period for the Green Electricity Tariff (GET) mechanism, as it looks into extending the green electricity subscription to 2024.

The premium, currently charged at 21.8 sen per kilowatt-hour (kWh), will be reviewed “so it is more competitive and attractive”, the Ministry of Energy Transition and Public Utilities said in a statement.

The programme, which allows an electricity consumer to pay a premium in exchange for being certified as consuming electricity from renewable sources, will also be reviewed to allow longer subscription periods.

In the statement, the ministry also said it is setting up a mechanism to prioritise subscription renewal for loyal customers of the GET programme.

“Details on the offering, implementation and subscription method for the programme will be announced by the ministry in the near future, after studies and review of the programme is completed,” it added.

The GET was introduced in 2022 with a surcharge of 3.7 sen per kWh. It was raised to 21.8 sen per kWh for August-December 2023 period, in order to better reflect regional green electricity retail prices.

In 2023, the quota was raised to 6,600 Gigawatt hours (GWh), from 4,500GWh offered in 2022. This represents about 5% of electricity sold in Malaysia and Sabah in a year.

Consumers in turn receive Malaysia Renewable Energy Certificates (mREC) to prove that their electricity consumed is from renewable energy, as part of industry requirements of best practices to reduce carbon footprint.

While Malaysia’s installed capacity stood at around 25% of total power generation capacity, the energy generated may be lower due to the intermittency of the renewable energy sources, such as solar.

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