The MCA president asked why there was a need to increase the tax rate for electricity and water, while exempting other necessities like food and beverages, and telecommunications.

“Telecommunications is a basic monthly utility. The same goes for electricity and water. Why is the SST rate not kept at 6% for electricity and water charges as well?

“The government needs to be consistent,” he said in a Facebook post.

Last month, the government approved a request from Tenaga Nasional Bhd to continue with the imbalance cost pass-through (ICPT) mechanism from Jan 1 to June 30, while simultaneously removing the 2 sen/kWh rebate for households that consume between 601kWh and 1,500kWh of electricity a month.

ICPT is a calculation to adjust rates based on the cost of fuel generated to produce electricity.

Wee said these changes have already increased household bills, leading to higher collection from the service tax on electricity.

He said increasing SST to 8% on utility bills will place further burden on consumers.

Wee said the commercial and manufacturing sectors are badly affected, claiming that their electricity tariffs have not dropped despite plummeting fuel costs earlier this month.

“The government should give a breather to consumers and businesses, after they have had to weather several increases in electricity bills over the past year,” he said.