Govt introduces tiered pricing for green electricity with lower tariffs

• Subscription to the new GET rates will have a lock-in period until Dec 31 every year, with automatic renewal for a one-year period if not terminated.

KUALA LUMPUR (April 9): The Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation has introduced a new tiered pricing mechanism with lower rates for the Green Electricity Tariff (GET) programme set to a quota of 6,600 gigawatt-hours (GWh) this year.

The new rates are set at 10 sen per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for domestic and non-domestic low-voltage users, and 20 sen/kWh for non-domestic medium and high-voltage users, according to a statement from the ministry also known as Petra. The GET rate for 2023 was higher at 21.8 sen/kWh.

“Funds collected from the implementation of this programme will be used to further boost national energy transition efforts to increase the capacity of renewable energy, such as the Solar for Rakyat Incentive Scheme (SolaRIS), which has been introduced recently,” it added.

Users can subscribe through the myTNB portal starting from May 3, Petra noted. The option for backdated subscriptions, which are applicable for periods starting from Jan 1, 2024, will be made available for those subscribing between May 3 and May 31.

Subscription to the new GET rates will have a lock-in period until Dec 31 every year, with automatic renewal for a one-year period if not terminated, it added, while reiterating that imbalance cost pass-through (ICPT) charges will not be imposed on the subscribers.

The GET is an initiative by the government to provide green electricity generated from renewable sources to customers of Tenaga Nasional Bhd who intend to reduce their carbon footprint.

The programme has supplied 6,762 GWh of green electricity to 2,461 users across various categories since its introduction in 2021, according to Petra, and helped to fulfil environmental, social and governance commitments, particularly in terms of greenhouse gas emissions avoidance.

Under the initiative, subscribers will receive a Malaysia Renewable Energy Certificate to prove that the electricity consumed was from renewable energy, as part of industry requirements of best practice to reduce carbon footprint.

Those who do not subscribe to GET will instead be charged under the ICPT mechanism, which adjusts electricity tariffs based on swings in power generation fuel prices.

For the first half of 2024, the ICPT surcharge is set at 10 sen/kWh for domestic users who consume more than 1,500 kWh in a month.

Non-domestic consumers in the low-voltage category such as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) enjoy an ICPT surcharge of 3.7 sen/kWh, while medium- and high-voltage commercial and industrial users are charged 17 sen/kWh.

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