Malaysia Today:
Our leaders tricked the people, covering up with their brain
washed/propaganda news for their own gain, should we just keep quiet and and
pretend as if its ok/normal? at the same time we see a lot people suffer..
should we protect these ministers when we know they have been doing this over
and over again.
what should we do? Just pray and do nothing?
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/6/6/business/14432852&sec=business
Tuesday June 6, 2006
Ani: TNB got a raw deal
WHEN the Government decided to approve the request from Tenaga Nasional Bhd
(TNB) to raise electricity tariffs, the plight of the national utility took
centre-stage. Naturally, the knee-jerk reaction among consumers was not
favourable. The 12% rise in tariffs appears to have re-ignited the debate on
how good the going is for independent power producers (IPPs) at the cost of the
national utilitys cashflow. The imbalance between the generation side of the
business and that of transmission and distribution has put a strain on TNB. To
understand the privatisation of the power generation sector, one needs to take
a look back in history to understand that the country's IPPs came about as a
result of the Government's effort to address the issue of stable power supply
after the landmark 1992 blackout. Lending a historical perspective to the issue
of IPPs is former TNB executive chairman Tan Sri Ani Arope, who headed the
national utility from 1990 to 1996. It was during his
tenure that the first generation IPPs were created. StarBiz deputy news editor
JAGDEV SINGH SIDHU has the story. STARBIZ: What happened after the first
major blackout in 1992? Ani: TNB had plans in place to pump out more energy
by building plants in Pasir Gudang and Paka. Financing was no problem and our
credit standing was very high. We had the land acquired and were ready to move
in and plant up. But we were told by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU)
that it had its own plans. We cautioned EPU that if those plants, which would
take two years to complete, were not built, Malaysia would get another major
blackout. When you have a place with 250 engineers, it does not make sense to
say (the blackout) is because of poor planning. But the EPU said it had its own
plans and we were told to surrender the land. Then it surfaced that it
wanted to privatise the power plants. I am not anti-IPPs per se. It is good to
have other players but it has to be done
fairly. It has to be fair to the consumers, not just TNB, which is a conduit.
TNB, because of the electricity hike, has been treated as the whipping boy. The
focus should be on the consumers. When the generous terms were given to
the IPPs, all my other peers around the world asked what was happening. They
said they would like to have a share in the IPPs. They said (the contracts to
IPPs) were too darn generous.'' (The terms) were grossly one sided.
Tan Sri Ani Arope
How was the Malaysian model of IPPs created? Ask our previous Prime
Minister. How was the process of negotiations with IPPs conducted?
There was no negotiation. Absolutely none. Instead of talking directly with the
IPPs, TNB was sitting down with the EPU. And we were harassed, humiliated and
talked down every time we went there. After that, my team was disappointed. The
EPU just gave us the terms and asked us to agree. I said no way I would.
What about the pricing and terms of the contracts? It was all fixed up.
(They said) this is the price, this is the capacity charge and this is the
number of years. They said you just take it and I refused to sign the
contracts. And then, I was put out to pasture. Why did you disagree with
the terms? It was grossly unfair. At 16 sen per unit (kWh) and with the take
or pay situation, actually it was 23 sen per unit. With 23 sen, plus
transmission and distribution costs, TNB would have had to charge the
consumer no less than 30 sen per unit. If mixed with TNBs cost, the cost
would come down but that was at our expense because we were producing
electricity at 8 sen a unit. We can deliver electricity at 17 sen per unit.
And then there is a capacity charge. Nobody produces excess electricity
like Malaysia and it goes to waste because there are no batteries to store that
power. TNB only needs a reserve of 15% to 20%. TNB was producing
electricity at 8 sen a unit. What should have been the right price for IPPs to
sell to TNB? Twelve sen. They could not beat our price as we had already
amortised our assets. But for the new guys or even ourselves to come in then
and (having) to meet interest charges and to make a small profit, it would cost
12 sen a unit. This was what we told one IPP. The IPP agreed to it but
the EPU said that unless the IPP raised its price, the contract would not be
given to the IPP. So he got it for 14 sen per unit. And
then, there is the cost pass-through. If the price of fuel went up, the extra
cost is passed through to us. And in other words, it is passed on to the
consumer. Under what terms would you have agreed to the IPPs being set
up? Have an independent buyer for the electricity and in one way, let TNB
come in and bid for the plants. Get other people to come in. Get a commission
to see (to) our needs and TNB can be one of the producers. It is argued
that the IPPs' contracts are too lucrative but there are IPPs in other
countries in Africa or Asia that have better terms. There are IPPs charging
50 to 60 US cents per unit but they use diesel. Take our own situation and
compare oranges with oranges. Then it is fair. Do whatever is fair. How
were you affected by the process of awarding the IPP contracts? I felt
sick. It was morally wrong and not fair. If it is legal and not fair, I will
not do it. If it is fair and illegal, I still wont do it. It has to
be legal and fair. We work for the consumers, workers and
shareholders. TNB is morally obligated to these three, but the consumers come
first, otherwise we wont be around. It is then the workers and the
shareholders. When I said that, they said Dia ingat bapak dia-punya
(He thinks this is his fathers company). This job is an amanah (trust). You
are entrusted with this responsibility and you carry it out to the best of your
ability. I do not want somebody to come and urinate on my grave. In the Malay
culture, that is about the worst insult they can do to a man. Do you
think you did the right thing by not signing the agreements? Absolutely.
How should a contract with the IPPs work? In Australia, they call the
IPPs and ask what is your price''. They will pay the IPP that offers the best
price. What they could have done is to throw the net wider and ask everybody
(if they) are good, it would be awarded to them. But in our case, the
contracts were ready-made and we were asked to sign. What is your view
on the impending renegotiation with the IPPs? It has to be legal and fair.
If we were to negotiate unfairly and illegally, the whole world will be looking
at us and they will say dont sign anything with Malaysia because if things go
against the country, the Government will void the agreement. We have
to look at this very carefully. But what we can do now is to say, can we
bring down the capacity charge. Anything above the 15% reserve margin, we will
call for bids. The second thing is that the IPPs would have by now paid
up their whole capital investments in their plants and it is all gravy (or
profit) from now. Could we not bring this down a bit? Instead of paying a small
amount to (a special fund), why not increase the (payment) for future planting
up? In that manner, we can control the price of electricity. Otherwise, it's
going to escalate. Who in your
opinion should get involved in the negotiations? The consumers should be
there. For me, you should get a very independent body. Then, you can bring in
TNB, the IPPs, the consumers and Energy Commission. But these bodies and
consumers should not make a judgment
Panduan untuk bakal pengantin & sudah berkahwin.. cara utk mengawal kewangan,
meningkatkan dana kewangan utk berkahwin & sesudah berkahwin, berbelanja secara
berhemah.. insha ALlah
layari laman web>> http://www.maskahwin.com/index.php?ref=delete
untuk keterangan lanjut
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