Everything you need to know on Malaysian ICPT rates & electricity bill price hikes for 2024
The Imbalance Cost Pass-Through (ICPT) Mechanism. Let’s Recap.
If you did not know, your energy bills include a certain mechanism known as ICPT, and it was first implemented for Malaysian energy bills in 2015.
It was actually created to protect you, a Malaysian homeowner paying electricity bills. The government developed ICPT, as a way to shield you from fluctuating fuel prices. Why is it fluctuating? The source of your electricity (fossil fuels) is constantly depleting. With it becoming more and more limited everyday, the value of it increases in international markets, thus the energy you use to power your home becomes more expensive with time.
With the ICPT implementation, the government would provide subsidies to cover the fluctuations in price. Resulting in stable energy prices.
ICPT 2023
With the new Government taking its place, changes were made in 2023 for ICPT regulations applied to Malaysian homeowners with high energy bills.
It happened when the Prime Minister announced that the subsidies they had been providing for energy bills amounting to RM739 and above, would no longer be applicable. Ultimately, the absence of subsidies has resulted in an ICPT surcharge of RM0.10/kWh for the energy bills of such size.
ICPT 2024
Further changes were recently implemented, to be applicable during January 2024- June 2024, that decidedly affected 15% of Malaysians. Previously, a 2-sen/kWh rebate was available for homeowners consuming more than 600 kWh. However, for the time frame mentioned above, this rebate will no longer be applied.
This translates to loss of rebate entitlement for consumers falling under the category of 601 kWh - 1,500 kWh energy consumption. On the brighter side, unlike the regulations implemented in 2023 for consumers exceeding the 1,500 kWh edge, there are no surcharges.
NEW TNB BILLS IN 2024
Curious as to how exactly the new ICPT 2024 affects your household?
Here are 2 simple steps you can follow to calculate your new monthly electricity costs:
- Check your total monthly consumption, either from the TNB app, or your recent bill.
- Enter your consumption amount into TNB’s online electricity forecast calculator that is wired to include the ICPT rates.
Based on the calculator, here is a breakdown of 5 different scenarios to give you an idea of how ICPT 2024 applies.
| Total Consumption | Estimated Bill | ICPT (sen/kWh) | 6% Service Tax | Total Bill (inclusive of tax & ICPT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 300 | RM 77.00 | RM -6.00 | RM 0.00 | RM 71.00 |
| 600 | RM 231.80 | RM -12.00 | RM 0.00 | RM 219.80 |
| 601 | RM 232.35 | RM 0.00 | RM 0.03 | RM 232.38 |
| 900 | RM 395.60 | RM 0.00 | RM 9.83 | RM 405.43 |
| 1550 | RM 766.75 | RM 155.00 | RM 37.80 | RM 959.55 |
Households consuming below 600 kWh not only get to skip tax charge, but also have their original bills reduced with ICPT. On the other extreme, consuming more than 1,500 kWh, results in additional costs to the bill with ICPT rates. What falls in the middle are those who are accountable for tax fee, but get neither rebates, nor surcharges.
Having provided subsidies amounting to RM22.8 billion, including RM1.9 billion subsidy for H1 2024, ICPT is undoubtedly a successful programme barring us from the highly volatile fuel price fluctuations.
Yet, as we deplete more of the non-renewable sources, these fluctuations are likely to be more intense. As we move forward into this world whereby the majority is powered by a limited supply of energy, solar solutions that remain as abundant as the sunny sky becomes our ray of hope for a brighter and affordable future.
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