IPP: Najib harus jelaskan subsidi gas RM131.3 bilionKetua Menteri Pulau Pinang Lim Guan Eng desak Perdana Menteri jawab skandal subsidi gas yang didedahkan oleh bekas CEO TNB Tan Sri Ani Arope.
KUALA LUMPUR: Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang Lim Guan Eng mendesak Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak menjawab pendedahan mantan Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif (CEO) Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) Tan Sri Ani Arope mengenai skandal subsidi gasyang mengakibatkan negara menanggung kos sebanyak RM131.3 bilion.
“Najib harus menjawab pendedahan yang dibuat oleh Ani Arope berhubung skandal subsidi minyak ini,” katanya dalam satu kenyataan media yang dikeluarkan di sini hari ini.
Bekas CEO TNB itu mendedahkan bahawa Unit Perancangan Ekonomi (EPU) bertanggungjawab terhadap skandal subsidi minyak yang menyebabkan rakyat Malaysia menanggung kos berjumlah RM131.3 bilion pada tahun 2010.
Lim berkata, Ani Arope sanggup memilih untuk melepaskan jawatan beliau daripada menandatangani perjanjian berat sebelah, yang melihat penciptaan generasi pertama IPP, seperti YTL Power Services, nPowertek dan Malakoff semasa pentadbiran mantan perdana menteri Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“EPU telah memaksa Tenaga untuk membeli kuasa daripada pengeluar bebas elektrik (Independent Power Producer – IPP), yakni Genting Sanyen, sebanyak 14sen/kWh walaupun terdapat penawaran sebanyak 12sen/kWh; dan IPP mengenakan bayaran sebanyak 16sen/kWh.
Menurut Lim, Ani Arope turut menggelar EPU sebagai ‘Economic Plundering Unit’ dengan menaikkan tarif elektrik sewenang- wenangnya.
Ani Arope menyatakan bahawa agensi janakuasa tersebut telah memaksa syarikat janakuasa nasional untuk menandatangani perjanjian pembelian berat sebelah hampir 20 tahun yang lalu di mana Tenaga mesti membeli tenaga yang tidak diperlukan.
Margin simpanan elektrik tertinggi di dunia
“Hal ini menyebabkan Malaysia mengalami margin simpanan elektrik yang tertinggi di dunia iaitu 52.6% pada tahun 2010,” ujar Setiausaha Agung DAP itu.
Menurutnya lagi, sehingga akhir tahun 2010, Petronas telah menjengkakan subsidi gas asli terhadap sektor janakuasa dan sektor bukan janakuasa sebanyak RM131.3 bilion.
“Sekiranya harga gas asli tidak berubah (dalam sektor janakuasa pada RM10.70/MMBTU; sektor bukan janakuasa pada RM15.35/MMBTU), sejumlah RM27 billion terpaksa ditanggung pada 2011,” katanya.
Beliau berkata TNB dibenarkan untuk menaikkan 7% kenaikan kerana Tenaga perlu membayar lebih untuk harga gas asli yang naik sebanyak RM3 se MMBTU, di mana ianya akan mengurangkan kos subsidi kepada RM25.64 bilion daripada RM27.22 bilion.
Jelas sekali, tiada justifikasi untuk Putrajaya menaikkan tarif elektrik sebanyak 7% apabila kajian semula syarat asal IPP adalah memadai daripada pemotongan nilai subsidi tersebut.
Katanya, ‘Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers’ (FMM) telah menyatakan bahawa harga dalam sektor janakuasa Malaysia belum menjadi lebih kompetitif, walaupun bayaran untuk gas asli adalah lebih murah (RM13.70/mmBtu) berbanding Thailand (RM18.23), Singapura (RM43.32) dan Indonesia (RM21.04).
“Kos elektrik di Malaysia berikutan kenaikan kadar adalah menghampiri kadar di Thailand. Sekiranya kita membandingkan kadar tenaga elektrik di Thailand yang berkategori tenaga bervoltan rendah, sederhana dan tinggi, kadar tarif Malaysia antara kategori tersebut adalah lebih tinggi.
“Perdana Menteri harus menjawab kepada rakyat Malaysia kenapa rakyat harus ‘membayar’ bagi kesilapan atau perjanjian yang tidak seimbang oleh EPU yang bertentangan dengan kepentingan nasional kerana ia hanya menguntungkan beberapa IPP dengan mengorbankan kepentingan 27 juta rakyat Malaysia,” tambahnya. -FMT
Ani Arope blames high power tariffs on ‘Economic Plundering Unit’
KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 — Former Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) chief executive Tan Sri Ani Arope is blaming the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) for rising electricity tariffs, saying the powerful agency forced the national power company to sign lopsided purchase deals nearly 20 years ago.
Ani said EPU, which he sarcastically dubbed "Economic Plundering Unit", forced Tenaga to buy electricity from an independent power producer (IPP), believed to be Genting Sanyen, at 14 sen per kilowatt hour (kWh) despite an existing offer of 12 sen/kWh then; other IPPs then were charging 16 sen/kWh.
Genting Sanyen became the first IPP to transfer 15 million watts (MW) in electricity to TNB’s national grid on April 15 and is scheduled to complete a RM1.8 billion upgrade on its existing gas-fired plant with a capacity for 720 MW by June next year.
“You don’t need to go to a fanciful business school to figure out why we need a tariff hike — just revisit the terms given to some IPPs,” Ani, who helmed the utility company between 1990 and 1996, said in his last Facebook posting three days ago.
“With the take-or-pay clause and with the 40 per cent excess reserve that we have today, one only has to produce half of one’s capacity and be paid 80 per cent of the agreed capacity. Well done the then-EPU — Economic Plundering Unit,” he added, mocking the economic unit under the Prime Minister’s Department.
Ani called for a review of the original terms with the IPPs as the storm over energy price deals continues to build up.
DAP publicity chief Tony Pua cited today Ani’s 2006 interview with English daily, The Star, to increase pressure on the federal government to declassify the power purchase agreements (PPAs) inked between TNB and the IPPs.
Ani caused a stir 15 years ago when he chose to resign from his executive chairman post rather than sign the imbalanced deals, which saw the first generation of IPPs created, such as YTL Power Services, Powertek and Malakoff during the Mahathir administration.
“TNB is the whipping boy. TNB has no control of the price it has to pay to the IPPs. Get to the source of the problem,” said the Penang-born who turned 79 on May 17.
The Najib administration has been savaged for allegedly protecting the interests of IPPs rather than the public.
Putrajaya announced the 7.12 per cent hike in electricity rates in an effort to trim a subsidy bill that would otherwise double to RM21 billion this year and promised the hike will not affect 75 per cent of domestic consumers.
But power prices will now rise by as much as 2.3 sen per kWh in areas taking TNB’s electricity supply, a potential source of public anger just ahead of a general election expected within the year.
The Star daily reported today the government was close to inking a deal for a 1,000 MW coal-fired plant in Manjung which will charge 25 sen/kWh. -TMI
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