LABUAN: Consumers here are wondering why their electricity bills have suddenly gone up this month compared to previous months.
A consumer here, Rahfie Khan, yesterday said he was wondering why his electricity bill this month showed he had to pay RM340 compared to only RM277 last month with the same household consumption.
“I contacted Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) through their hotline on Monday to refer the matter to them, and a spokesperson for SESB told me that the person who was responsible to key in the data might have been confused between some items in the bill, whether they are taxed under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) or not, and whether Labuan is subjected to the GST or not.
“Through our conversation, the spokesperson was shocked and admitted that there was confusion in their data. I also wonder why we as consumers have to pay for the Renewable Energy Fund as shown in the bill. It is like we are paying for the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) or service charge,” he said to The Borneo Post.
When asked whether there was some additional power consumption in his household this month, he replied that his neighbours also experienced a surge in their electricity bills, including his neighbours who did not use air-conditioners in their homes.
He added that after studying and comparing his electricity bill this month with that of last month’s bill, he noticed that in the previous month, the bill showed that for the first 100 units, the rate was at 0.175 and the second 100 units, the rate was then calculated at 0.185.
While this month, the first 50 units were calculated at 0.175 and 0.185 for the second 50 units, and the list of items was longer this month.
Due to the long list of items, the total amount they had to pay had increased, he said.
“I do not want to blame the newly implemented GST but as consumers we just need an acceptable explanation from SESB. I do hope that what I had experienced today will not affect the rest of the consumers in Sabah and Labuan,” said Rahfie.