DAP quibbles Tenaga CEO’s pay hike as tariffs rise

By Boo Su-Lyn

June 03, 2011

 

KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 — DAP asked Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) to explain the doubling of its chief executive officer’s basic pay last year to RM1.2 million as unhappiness continued over the national power company’s electricity tariff hike.

TNB CEO Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh salary went up from RM600,000 in 2009 to RM1.2 million in 2010, according to the company’s annual report. His total remuneration last year, including bonuses, was RM1.8 million, compared to RM1.4 million in 2009.

“The DAP wishes to question the logic in increasing the salaries of the TNB chiefs at a time where inflation is at an all time high and the average Malaysian’s salary isn’t exactly increasing at all.” Komtar assemblyman Ng Wei Aik said in a statement today.
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“With the increase of electricity tariff by 7 per cent, this is a classic example of ‘passing the buck back to the people’,” he added.
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TNB has been asking for a hike in electricity tariffs since the beginning of the year due to increased capital expenditure and rising fuel costs.'

Its group profit before taxation and zakat was RM4 billion for the 2010 financial year, more than double the RM1.5 billion it made in 2009, according to the annual report.

The group revenue topped RM30.3 billion for the 2010 financial year, up 5.3 per cent from the previous year.

Putrajaya recently announced a 7.12 per cent increase in electricity tariffs in an effort to trim a subsidy bill, which 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.

Ng also lambasted Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia slogan “People First, Performance Now”.
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“With the rising cost of living that is affecting most Malaysians, it is now increasingly becoming 1 Malaysia: Cronies First, Performance Never!” he said.
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Economists have predicted that the price hike in electricity and natural gas will push up the monthly consumer price index (CPI) by as much four per cent in the next few months from 3.2 per cent in April.
“Electricity is a basic need of every Malaysian; it should not be used by TNB to increase profits,” said Ng.