TNB did not impose extra charges for bills during MCO

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has not imposed extra charges on consumers for bill estimations made during the Movement Control Order (MCO) after all meter-reading activities were halted from March 20 until May 14.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said TNB informed him the method to calculate the electricity bills during this period.

He added that the billing mechanism was also checked and agreed upon by the Energy Commission (ST) which was also present during the meeting.

"TNB has informed that if there were extra payments, the amount will be credited (into consumer accounts) or returned to them," he said in a statement today.

He added that as part of the effort to lighten the financial burden of consumers following the COVID-19 pandemic, TNB had agreed to introduce the Electricity Bill Easy Payment Plan from the actual monthly bill received until December 2020.

"Through this plan, electricity consumers can pay their bills for electricity use during the MCO period in installments until December 2020," he said.

He added that TNB also informed that there will not be any termination of electricity supply until July 31, 2020, if consumers are late in paying their electricity bills.

Shamsul Anuar said as of May 28, the government had spent RM200 million under the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (PRIHATIN) to give discounts to electricity consumers in the Peninsular.

"Of this amount, RM149 million was spent on awarding the discount to 7.6 million residential consumers while the remainder was for commercial and industrial consumers," he said.

Consumers can get further information on the billing mechanism during the MCO period at Kedai Tenaga throughout the country or contact the TNB Careline 1-300-88-5454 which operates every day (8 a.m. until 5 p.m.) and digitally through TNB CarelineFacebook.

"Consumers who are not satisfied can file a complaint to the Energy Commission through Sistem eAduan (https://bit.ly/eaduanST), telephone number 03-8870 8800 or send an email to eaduan@st.gov.my," he said.

--BERNAMA