KWTBB - Kumpulan Wang Tenaga Boleh Baharu

I was looking into my house's electricity bill and I noticed that I was paying for 1.6% surcharge for KWTBB. The amount was small but it just captured my attention. Thus, I began to look into what this KWTBB is.

Not my bill. Just one that I found on the internet.

It turns out that this KWTBB is "Kumpulan Wang Tenaga Boleh Baharu". The name in English is "Renewable Energy Fund". The 1.6% levy for ‘Kumpulan Wang Tenaga Boleh Baharu’ is used to develop Malaysia’s renewable energy program. It is meant for maintaining a mechanism called the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT). The FiT allows homeowners and businesses to earn money by producing energy through renewable resources that will be fed into the utility grid for distribution throughout the country. In other words, those who participate in the FiT program will be generating energy that Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) will use to produce the electricity that we consume on a daily basis. The idea is to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels as a source of energy (a non-sustainable option in the long run).

From what I have learned, only households that consume electricity above 300 kW (electricity bills that exceed RM77) are required to pay this surcharge. So, if you do not want to pay for this 1.6% surcharge for KWTBB, save more on your electricity usage.

Electricity Bill - How are we charged by TNB

I was curious about how our electricity bill is being calculated. Thus, I decided to do a bit of research on this topic. My first stop is Tenaga Nasional Berhad website, www.tnb.com.my. I have learned that there are many different types of tariffs, depending on which category you are in. But for the sake of our common people, we would be interested in only two tariffs: Tariff A for domestic tariff and Tariff B - Low voltage commercial tariff.

How does both this tariff is related to us?

Tariff A is meant for residential areas, such as your house, no matter it is a bungalow, linked house, apartment or condominium. The way the electricity bill is being calculated is the same.

Tariff B is for low voltage commercial buildings, which include service apartment that some of us may be staying in.

Below is the Tariff A and B:

So, for most of us that stay in houses, apartments or condominiums, we only look into Tariff A. From the way it is structured, the more that you use, the more that you would have to pay. Let us look into a simple home that used about 374 kWh.

For the first 200 kWh, we would have to pay RM 43.60 (200 kWh x 21.8 sen/kWh)
For the next 100 kWh, we would have to pay RM 33.40 (100 kWh x 33.4 sen/kWh)
For the balance 74 kWh, we would have to pay RM 38.18 (74 kWh x 51.6 sen/kWh)

Thus, the total payable is RM43.60 + RM 33.40 + RM 38.18 = RM 115.18

But if your house used about 748 kWh, you would have to pay a lot more

For the first 200 kWh, we would have to pay RM 43.60 (200 kWh x 21.8 sen/kWh)
For the next 100 kWh, we would have to pay RM 33.40 (100 kWh x 33.4 sen/kWh)
For the next 300 kWh, we would have to pay RM 154.80 (300 kWh x 51.6 sen/kWh)
For the balance 148 kWh, we would have to pay RM 80.81 (148 kWh x 54.6 sen/kWh)

Thus, the total payable is RM43.60 + RM 33.40 + RM 154.80 + RM 80.81 = RM 312.61

If you look carefully, I deliberately double up the quantity from 374 kWh to 748 kWh to make a point here. While the total electricity is double, we are paying more than double for it. Thus, the best thing that we could do to minimize our electricity bill is to minimize our usage.

There are many tips that can help but the few that I find most helpful are the following:

1. Air-conditioning temperature to be kept at 25 or 26 Deg C.
2. Use mild temperature on water heater when taking a bath.
3. Iron your clothes in batch.

Do you have any other tips to help bring down the electricity bills?