Akmal said the likes of Google and Microsoft, which have pledged to invest a combined total of US$4.4 billion earlier this year, were enticed by the “competitive” rates offered in Peninsular Malaysia.

“The government has proven that the rates offered to investors successfully wooed many foreign investors to plough money into Malaysia,” he told the Dewan Rakyat.

He was responding to a supplementary question by Aminuddin Harun (PH-Port Dickson) on whether the existing tariffs were able to attract foreign investors.

On June 29, Akmal’s ministry announced that the electricity tariffs for non-domestic users would be lowered.

Non-domestic users saw a decrease in rate to 16 sen/kWh from the previous 17 sen/kWh. About 34,000 users were expected to benefit from the reduced tariff rate.

The new tariffs will be in force until Dec 31, with the ministry to review them before the new year.

Meanwhile, Akmal revealed that Putrajaya had spent some RM7.14 billion in 2023 and RM16.52 billion the year before on imbalance cost pass-through (ICPT) subsidies.

The ICPT is a mechanism under the Incentive Based Regulation framework that allows Tenaga Nasional Bhd to reflect changes in fuel and other generation-related costs in the electricity tariff.