Price Up Again
‘Power up; tariff hike of 12 percent from next month’ is the front page news of today’s NST.
After months of deliberations, finally our government has finally spoken. It’s an inevitable decision, said Pak Lah. He cannot let TNB falling down and put the people in a bigger problem. TNB is making huge losses because of its high maintenance costs. TNB has repeatedly called for help from the government. Finally the government has come to them with some money.
But some skeptics opine that the government would rather safe IPPs (Independent Power Plants) than TNB though TNB is partly government owned and IPPs are wholly owned by private entities. But majority said, it is not that simple as TNB has contractual obligations to buy power from these IPPs. They have it all in writing. Pak Lah said the decision has been made after considering the interests of rakyat, TNB and IPPs.
To me, the interests of the people or rakyat must be put higher than TNB or IPPs interests. Can the rakyat endure the new tariff hike? Can the government control the prices of the goods as the production costs of them will be higher? Though the lowest income group is not directly affected by the hike, these people still buy the same goods everyday to survive. Now the prices of the goods are going to be higher also. It is inevitable.
I’m not against the new tariff hike but the hike must be reasonable, maybe 5% or 7% only. I’m in a poor section of society and the new tariff is too much for me. Therefore I have to adapt and cut further my spending. Hopefully I will be okay.
Next month will be a busy month for me and other football fans. The World Cup will kick off early next month, so electricity consumption will be higher than usual. Now I have to be very selective, I will only watch the live games of my favorite teams only.
I guess Pak Lah will have a bigger problem later. He needs to convince the rakyat that the decision is the best one. We all know that DAP won 6 state seats in recently concluded Sarawak State Election because of 2 main issues; leasehold land issue and oil price hike issue. Now DAP will have another issue to attack the present government.
Believe it or not, there are some rakyat who cannot really understand the rationale of the new electricity tariff hike. They don’t care about TNB, they don’t care about IPPs, all they care about is their cost of daily meals, children’s school fees, medical, cigarettes, cars and bus fares. These people are mostly from the lower income group.
Be as the above maybe, I think the price hikes of our electricity and oil are a global problem. It’s a side effect or spin-off of the global problem i.e. the middle-east problems, US and its economy, China and its currency or market. In short the world is having a bad economy.
May God help us all in this turbulent world….
After months of deliberations, finally our government has finally spoken. It’s an inevitable decision, said Pak Lah. He cannot let TNB falling down and put the people in a bigger problem. TNB is making huge losses because of its high maintenance costs. TNB has repeatedly called for help from the government. Finally the government has come to them with some money.
But some skeptics opine that the government would rather safe IPPs (Independent Power Plants) than TNB though TNB is partly government owned and IPPs are wholly owned by private entities. But majority said, it is not that simple as TNB has contractual obligations to buy power from these IPPs. They have it all in writing. Pak Lah said the decision has been made after considering the interests of rakyat, TNB and IPPs.
To me, the interests of the people or rakyat must be put higher than TNB or IPPs interests. Can the rakyat endure the new tariff hike? Can the government control the prices of the goods as the production costs of them will be higher? Though the lowest income group is not directly affected by the hike, these people still buy the same goods everyday to survive. Now the prices of the goods are going to be higher also. It is inevitable.
I’m not against the new tariff hike but the hike must be reasonable, maybe 5% or 7% only. I’m in a poor section of society and the new tariff is too much for me. Therefore I have to adapt and cut further my spending. Hopefully I will be okay.
Next month will be a busy month for me and other football fans. The World Cup will kick off early next month, so electricity consumption will be higher than usual. Now I have to be very selective, I will only watch the live games of my favorite teams only.
I guess Pak Lah will have a bigger problem later. He needs to convince the rakyat that the decision is the best one. We all know that DAP won 6 state seats in recently concluded Sarawak State Election because of 2 main issues; leasehold land issue and oil price hike issue. Now DAP will have another issue to attack the present government.
Believe it or not, there are some rakyat who cannot really understand the rationale of the new electricity tariff hike. They don’t care about TNB, they don’t care about IPPs, all they care about is their cost of daily meals, children’s school fees, medical, cigarettes, cars and bus fares. These people are mostly from the lower income group.
Be as the above maybe, I think the price hikes of our electricity and oil are a global problem. It’s a side effect or spin-off of the global problem i.e. the middle-east problems, US and its economy, China and its currency or market. In short the world is having a bad economy.
May God help us all in this turbulent world….
posted by Hisyam at 1:04 PM
|
0 comments
