Power Sector in Malaysia: 50% of Power Generated by Tenaga Nasional

Abdul Razak bin Abdul Majid, Chairman of Energy Commission talks about the structure of the electricity sector.

He says, “We have evolved from what we had previously as a supply authority in Tenaga Nasional; they have the monopoly over the transmission and distribution network and they still hold about 50% of the generation share in the system today. The other 50% comes from independent power producers who are given licences to operate a facility for a period of about 21 to 25 years. Today all of the capacities are intended to be on a comparative basis and it is the government´s policy to try to procure the cheapest source as much as possible to serve the public. We feel that this is quite good; we have seen this as a mechanism to discover the price of supply of electricity. For the time being I think this will hold for a while. Whether the government will allow for retail competition is another step in the evolution of the industry. We are working on some building works; we will perhaps not get there immediately but at least we will prepare for an eventual evolution into a more de-regulated market.”

Full Interview Available – Energy in Malaysia: Electricity Consumption Growing 3.5% per Annum