The crude oil price is now close to US$50 per barrel. The price of natural gas has plunged since July 2008. Coal, which at one time was US$192/tonne, is now hovering around US$80/tonne.
Earlier when the prices were soaring, Tenaga Nasional hiked its electricity tariffs on 1 July 2008.
The electricity tariff hike was to cover the gas price increase and to partially offset the rise in coal prices, which had also gone up 170% since 2007, said the TNB chief back then.
Now that fuel prices have fallen, blog reader Desmond is wondering why TNB hasn’t reduced its rates.
When the fuel price went up, Tenaga said their cost had gone up and it hiked the electricity tariff.
Now petrol and gas prices have dropped and even fuel oil and transport costs, shipping charges for coal delivery, and the price of coal itself has gone down in the world markets but why is the Tenaga electricity tariff still so high when it should have gone down as well?
Something is not right here.