KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — Independent power producers (IPPs) should give up their contracts which allow them to profit “obscenely” at the expense of the people, PKR vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar has said.
While stressing that the party believed strongly in the sanctity of contract, she said the power purchasing agreements (PPAs) were “unconscionable” as they not only burdened the people but also discouraged competition, efficiency and innovation.
“We have no quarrel with IPPs on making a decent profit, but we do not subscribe to the idea that they are entitled to make super and obscene profits at the expense of the rakyat and nation,” she said in a statement today.
Nurul Izzah (picture) pointed out that IPPs were only able to make “mountains of super profits” through lopsided agreements at the expense of Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) and Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), the cost of which was now being passed directly to the public via the latest electricity tariff hike.
She said it was therefore necessary to fully understand the contracts’ terms and conditions to see if there were “alternative legal routes” that could be used to terminate the PPAs without impacting market sentiment.
The Lembah Pantai MP slammed the Najib administration for being so “overly concerned” about honouring the contracts that it had forgotten the greater obligation it had to govern with transparency, responsibility and accountability.
“Is this great tendency to airbrush the issue and take the side of IPPs driven by something more sinister? Perhaps to cover unconscionable dealings and possible corrupt practices?” she said.
The Najib administration announced yesterday it will raise electricity prices by an average of 7.1 per cent from June 1.
The price charged by Petronas to power companies for the natural gas will rise to RM13.70 per mmBtu from RM10.70, and go up by RM3.00 every month until December 2015, after which market rates apply.
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