The 58-year old pensioner was so happy when a man standing behind her answered: “It is because Tok Nan gives you a discount.”
Phang was among the many Sarawakians who were not aware that they were enjoying a lower electricity tariff since January last year, the lowest compared to any state in the country.
Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem, who is fondly known as Tok Nan in the state, had made the announcement at the State Legislative Assembly in November 2014.
The revision has benefited domestic consumers throughout the state as part of the government’s efforts to ease the burden of the people, especially those from the low and medium-income groups.
Following the announcement, some 240,000 domestic consumers or close to 50% of Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) customers who consume below RM70 monthly were enjoying between 20% and 47% lower bills while the remainder enjoyed a decrease of between 2% and 20%, depending on consumption volume.
With the tariff revision for domestic consumers, the overall average electricity rate was reduced to 29.8 sen/kWh.
Under the revision, almost 60,000 customers joined the 70,000 consumers who were already eligible for the federal government’s RM20 subsidy, making approximately 130,000 low-income customers in the state receiving zero monthly bills.
For customers who were not eligible for the subsidy, and who consumed up to 150 units a month, they were actually enjoying a reduced tariff of more than 40% while those consuming between 150 and 200 units enjoyed a reduction of 30%.
For those in the commercial and industrial sectors, beginning June last year, they have enjoyed a tariff reduction of about 8% to 50% and about 4% to 40% respectively, as announced by Adenan in April last year.
The significant tariff reduction has benefited some 86,000 commercial and industrial consumers in the state, including 46,000 commercial consumers of shophouses, retail shops and commercial blocks, where there has been a reduction of 15% to 50%, while a further 30,500 users have enjoyed a reduction of between 8% and 11%.
For industrial consumers, about 980 now enjoyed a 4% to 40% reduction while a further 125 consumers paid a reduction of an average of 2% in their bills.
Juliana Tan, a 40-year-old florist, thanked the government for the initiative.
“The revised structures are assisting the small and medium business entrepreneurs like me to reduce the cost of doing business in the face of the rising costs of operation.
“At least, this is what the state government can do to ease the people’s burden,” she said, adding that following the revision she began enjoying annual savings of more than RM400 as of last year.
During the announcement in April last year, Adenan said that the revised tariff structure for the domestic, commercial and industrial sectors was given to the people by the state government to help cushion the rising cost of living and the cost of doing business in Sarawak.
– BERNAMA