Saifuddin: Increased electricity bill issue to be taken to Cabinet
Tuesday, 28 May 201910:04 PM MYT
PUTRAJAYA (Bernama): The issue on a significant rise in electricity bill and public outcry over the matter will be taken to the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday (May 29), says Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail (pic).
He said he had received numerous complaints through WhatsApp asking for clarifications on the rise in the utility bill.
Saifuddin said he would raise the issue at the Cabinet meeting and hear the clarification himself from the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climatic Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin as the minister responsible.
"We have to know what contributed to the issue and its causes. If the causes are known, we will certainly look for a solution," he said at a media conference after the monthly assembly of the ministry here Tuesday (May 28).
The issue on the rise in electricity bill has now become a hot topic on social media as consumers complained of soaring utility bills, some of which had doubled.
Saifuddin also said that he would meet former chairman of the Government Advisory Council Tun Daim Zainuddin after the Aidilfitri celebrations to hear his views and recommendations on ways to bring down the prices of goods.
He also acknowledged the observations and scrutiny made by the former finance minister that the prices of goods could come down was true.
On Monday (May 27), Daim was reported to have said that based on the studies and meetings he had with various quarters including the cooperatives and wholesalers, he was confident that prices of goods could come down if the problem of middlemen who reaped hefty profits could be dealt with.
Meanwhile, Saifuddin said the success of the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) in imposing a penalty of RM1.94mil on eight companies found to be involved in the activity of falsifying bids had opened a new dimension in the functions of the independent body.
Taking into account the actual function of MyCC, that is to promote and protect the competitive process occurring in business and the services, the success indirectly created awareness that members of MyCC also had the ability to resolve cases concerning falsification in bids, he said.
Last March, MyCC had imposed a penalty of RM1.94mil on eight companies found to be involved in falsifying bids through tender offered by the Akademi Seni Budaya dan Warisan Kebangsaan (Aswara), making it the highest penalty imposed on bid-rigging in Malaysia. – Bernama
Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/05/28/saifuddin-increased-electricity-bill-issue-to-be-taken-to-cabinet/#8h8pXxTjDD3WQQdy.99
