KUALA LUMPUR – The Madani government has expanded electricity bill protection to domestic consumers using up to 800 kilowatt-hours (kWh) a month, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today.
The measure, which takes effect for electricity consumption from September to December 2026, raises the protection threshold from 600 kWh as the government moves to ease pressure on households.
Under the expanded protection, domestic consumers using up to 800 kWh a month will be exempted from the Automatic Fuel Cost Adjustment (AFA), retail charges, and Sales and Service Tax (SST), Anwar said in a statement.
He also thanked Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), the Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry (Petra) and the Energy Commission for their roles in enabling the measure to be implemented swiftly.
Anwar said haze and hotter weather in recent weeks had contributed to higher electricity consumption among some households, pushing their monthly usage beyond 600 kWh and resulting in unusually higher bills.
“The Madani Government will continue to closely monitor developments in fuel costs and current energy market conditions to ensure that any decisions relating to electricity tariffs take into account the balance between affordability and the cost of living, electricity supply security and the sustainability of the national energy sector,” he said.
Earlier today, Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said disruptions to global energy supplies were beginning to have wider repercussions, extending beyond petrol to other sources such as natural gas and coal.
He said the knock-on effects were beginning to affect electricity generation costs, particularly for consumers using more than 600 kWh a month.
“At the same time, for consumers using more than 600 kWh, the impact of the global energy supply disruption has had knock-on effects. Last March, the most significant impact was on petrol prices.
“Subsequently, we can now see that the effects have spread to other energy supplies, including natural gas, coal and others,” he said after attending a cheque handover ceremony for the Johor Bahru parliamentary constituency health clinic at Medan Niaga Kampung Melayu Majidee in Johor Bahru.
Akmal Nasrullah said electricity tariffs for higher-consumption users were influenced by fluctuations in global fuel prices through the AFA mechanism.
“However, the increases and decreases affecting consumers using more than 600 kWh are based on fuel costs under what is known as AFA, which reflects fuel prices.
“That is the challenge for us because the knock-on effects of the energy supply disruption, which began with petrol, are now increasingly being felt in other energy supplies, including natural gas,” he said.
He said changes in natural gas prices typically took three to four months to feed through to electricity tariffs.
“Natural gas is a fuel that is burned to generate energy. When the impact on this fuel begins to be seen globally, usually when there is an increase in petrol prices, there will be a knock-on effect (over a period of) three to four months before natural gas is also affected.
“When today’s discussion refers to energy consumption in July and August, it takes into account what happened previously. That fuel is burned to generate electricity, and its cost has increased,” he said.
Despite the pressure from higher fuel costs, Akmal Nasrullah said the existing tariff structure continued to shield most lower-consumption domestic users from direct increases.
“Certainly, the mechanism being assessed by the Prime Minister may have other areas that we can examine because, based on the tariff structure currently in place, the majority of consumers using below 600 kWh do not actually experience a direct impact in terms of supply prices or fuel costs.
“We know that under the existing tariff structure, the tariff rate for those using below 600 kWh a month remains unchanged,” he said.
Akmal had earlier said Anwar would chair a special meeting to review the electricity tariff situation and consider measures to ease the burden on consumers.
“I understand that the Prime Minister has stated the need for him to call a special meeting today to assess, consider and take note of the issues faced by the people,” he said.
He also said prevailing weather conditions could indirectly contribute to higher daily electricity consumption.
“We know that under the current conditions, when the weather is unfavourable, we have been advised to remain indoors or in safer places, but that could also lead to higher energy consumption,” he said. – September 17, 2026