The Cabinet has not endorsed any suggestion of an additional one per cent levy to help fund solar energy although there was one made for it, Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry, Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui said yesterday.
“It was never discussed in the Cabinet,” he said, when asked if there would be an additional one per cent levy on top of the one per cent levy on consumers using above 300 kWh (kilowatt-hour) per month come Sept 1, 2011.
The one per cent levy would raise about RM300 million and will be used to cover the cost associated with the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme for renewal energy (RE).
The Sustainable Energy Development Authority will be the governing body and be responsible to manage the FiT mechanism for RE in the country as well as to award licences for RE players.
There were reports saying the government planned to impose additional one per cent levy starting next year to help support solar power generation.
Chin, who was speaking to reporters after officiating the Asean Elenex 2011, stressed that there was no such decision.
“There is a suggestion (on additional one per cent levy) as the RE fund is limited but we have not made any decision on that yet,” he said.
In May, the government announced that average electricity tariffs will be raised by 2.23 sen per kilowatt hour (kWh), or 7.12 per cent, to 33.54 sen kWh, from 31.31 sen kWh, effective June 1, 2011.
However, the move will not affect about 75 per cent, or 4.4 million of the population, who consume less than 300 kWh per month.
On the same day, it announced the one per cent levy to promote the diversification of energy sources, particularly the optimisation of RE.
For now, he said, the one per cent levy was more than enough, adding that the government was still assessing the popularity of the RE.
However, he pointed out that if the government wanted to hasten its target of RE in the energy mix, the one per cent levy may not be sufficient.
The government aims for 2,080 megawatt of power to be produced via RE by 2020.
“The one per cent is more than enough to cater to everybody (to participate in RE).
(But) if we want to achieve the targets that we have set, eventually the one per cent may not be enough,” he said.
On other development, Chin said MyPower Corp, which was set up to, among others, review the power purchase agreements (PPAs) between Tenaga Nasional Bhd and independent power producers, has made some recommendations and the ministry would finalise them by year-end.
He said MyPower was not only reviewing the PPAs but also looking at bigger picture of restructuring the industry.
On suggestions of a separate ministry for energy, oil and gas, he said, “Going beyond 2020, maybe there will be a need for it.”
