KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 ― The government has given the assurance that the study on electricity tariff that will be announced later would prioritise the people, said Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Datuk Shamsul Anuar Nasarah.

This is in line with the government's effort to always study the electricity tariif that is appropriate, he said.

"For this tariff, must be a period (specific) for our study. InsyaAllah (God willing), we will make the announcement on the tariff after this,” he said in a press conference in Putrajaya today.

He said this when asked on the electricity tariff review for domestic consumers which is said to be still high currently.

Meanwhile, Energy Commission chief executive officer Abdul Razib Dawood, who was also present at the press conference, said the commission has acknowledged the issue raised on the electricity tariff today.

He said the tariff rate was set based on the Incentive Based Regulations (IBR) mechanism.

"For each IBR round, certainly (there are) study elements relating to tariff structure and others,” he explained.

Earlier, Shamsul Anuar announced the 'Bantuan Prihatin Elektrik Tambahan' scheme amounting to RM942 million, which is expected to benefit 7.66 million domestic consumers.

For industrial consumers, the assistance is maintained as announced under the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (PRIHATIN) for now, he said.

On March 27, 2020, the government announced a discount of 15 per cent on electricity consumption to affected sectors and businesses -- hotel operators, travel agencies, local airlines offices, shopping centres, convention halls, and theme parks.

For other industries, commercial and specific agriculture, the government provides a discount of two per cent on electricity consumption for the next six-month period.

Apart from that, electricity consumption discounts of 15-50 per cent are given to domestic consumers. ― Bernama