Bernama - TNB Expects Power Demand To Average Minus Two Pct In 2009

News - PLF In The News

20 August 2009

Bernama KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 20 (Bernama) -- Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) expects demand for electricity to average at minus two percent this financial year from an earlier projection of minus 3.5 percent. This followed higher demand in June and July, said president and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh. Demand dropped by only 2.3 percent in June, he told reporters on the sidelines of the Perdana Leadership Foundation Industry Insights Seminar 2009 here on Thursday. TNB had earlier reported a peak demand this year of 14,029 megawatts (MW) on June 17, but Che Khalib said the last couple of days had seen demand rising up to 14,200 MW. In 2008, the peak demand was at 14,007 MW. "In the current scenario, our demand has gone up. We see significant demand from the steel industry which had gone full swing, the cement industry and also hotels and shopping complexes," he said. The domestic sector saw between five and six percent increase in electricity demand in the last two months, with that of the commercial sector up by four percent while the industrial sector, which had registered negative growth last year, was now seeing positive demand. Asked on its effect on the group's profitability for the current financial year ending August, Che Khalib said net profit would still not be better than last year. "Net profit is not better as we had been hurt by the exchange rate while operating profit is not bad, not better than last year but better than we expected," he said. Earlier, in his presentation at the seminar on "Challenges and Opportunities in Malaysia's Energy Sector", Che Khalib touched on the sustainability of the sector. Among others, he said TNB wanted the government to revisit the policy on natural gas export as the country was still facing gas shortage. At the same time, another energy substitute, coal, also posed a challenge as the resource had to be imported but its prices were currently high, Che Khalib said. To raise its renewable energy capacity, he said TNB would be looking at tapping the hydro resources in Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak for the long term. Che Khalib also urged the government to be selective on the kind of foreign direct investments (FDIs) coming into the countries as to whether the projects are energy-efficient. He said that some projects such as aluminium and cement making consumed a lot of energy. -- BERNAMA