Dewan Rakyat passes two bills to give electricity autonomy to Sabah

KUALA LUMPUR: The Dewan Rakyat today passed two bills in preparation for the reassignment of autonomous power in the supply of electricity to the Sabah state government.

The two bills are the Renewable Energy (Amendment) Bill 2022 and the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (Amendment) Bill 2022.

Both were tabled for the second reading by the Energy and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan before being passed by a majority voice vote.

Takiyuddin said the amendments to the Renewable Energy Act 2011 (Act 725) and the Sustainable Energy Development Authority Act 2011 (Act 726) were in line with the government's commitment to review the implementation of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement related to the autonomous rights and powers allocated under the Federal Constitution to the states of Sabah and Sarawak.

Amendments to the two acts included a new subsection that gives the Minister the power to suspend wholly or any provision of the two acts in different parts of Malaysia.

According to him, legal provisions to enable the suspension of the application of Act 725 need to be prepared first so that the process of handing over power for the supply of electricity including from the Incentive Tariff Mechanism (FiT or Feed-in Tariff) can be implemented in an orderly manner without causing legal implications.

Takiyuddin also said like Act 725, Act 726 also does not contain provisions that allow the application of this act to be suspended in any part of Malaysia.

"I understand that the Sabah state government has established the Sabah State Energy Unit under the Chief Minister's Department to carry out the tasks of planning and regulating the development of renewable energy if the process of handing over the power of electricity supply is carried out," he said.

The Dewan Rakyat sitting resumes tomorrow

-- BERNAMA