Seda board members Lee Chean Chung and V Ganabatirau said government-assisted schools were previously only allowed to apply for quotas under the NEM Nova category, which is reserved for the commercial and industrial sector.

Lee, who is also the Petaling Jaya MP, said vernacular schools were forced to compete with the private sector for a limited amount of quotas under NEM Nova.

“NEM Nova quotas are always full, while there are many NEM GoMEn quotas that are not taken up,” he said at a press conference outside Parliament.

Lee said allowing these schools to apply for quotas from Seda, a statutory body under the energy transition and water transformation ministry, will enable them to save electricity costs and help reduce carbon emissions.

A quota of 1,600 megawatts (MW) has been allocated under three Net Energy Metering (NEM) scheme categories.

The categories are NEM Rakyat (400MW) for residential users; NEM GoMEn (100MW) for government premises; and NEM NOVA (1,100MW) for commercial and industrial users.

The NEM initiative was introduced by the government in 2021 to help consumers reduce their electricity bills by installing solar photovoltaic systems.