Persatuan tiada hak umum harga ayam

PERSEKUTUAN Persatuan Pengguna Malaysia (Fomca) mempertikaikan kenyataan yang dibuat oleh Persekutuan Persatuan Penternak Malaysia mengenai kenaikan harga ayam memandangkan ayam adalah barang kawalan.

Sepatutnya hanya Menteri Perdagangan Dalam Negeri dan Hal Ehwal Pengguna, Datuk Shafie Apdal yang mempunyai kuasa mengumumkan kenaikan itu, bukannya persatuan penternak.

Berdasarkan harga siling barang pengguna ditetapkan kerajaan, yang berkuat kuasa 15 Oktober lalu sehingga 28 Februari depan, harga ayam standard (disembelih dan dibersihkan berserta kaki, kepala, hati dan hempedal) ialah RM6 manakala harga ayam super ialah RM6.70.

Oleh itu, pengumuman kenaikan harga ini mengelirukan pengguna dalam menentukan harga sebenar ayam super di pasaran, sama ada RM6.45 atau RM6.70 seperti yang ditetapkan oleh kerajaan.

Fomca meminta agar Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri dan Hal Ehwal Pengguna tidak lagi membenarkan Persekutuan Persatuan Penternak Malaysia membuat kenyataan mengenai harga ayam.

Pada pandangan Fomca, harga ayam adalah seperti yang ditetapkan oleh kerajaan iaitu ayam standard RM6 dan ayam super RM6.70, sehingga kenyataan rasmi dibuat oleh Menteri Perdagangan Dalam Negeri dan Hal Ehwal Pengguna.

Sekiranya pengguna mendapati harga ayam di pasaran melebihi paras harga siling yang ditetapkan sertakan tidak diletakkan label berwarna merah jambu, sila buat aduan kepada Bahagian Penguat Kuasa, Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri dan Hal Ehwal Pengguna yang berhampiran, atau melalui talian hotline: 1-800-886-800, laman web: www.e-aduan.kpdnhep.gov.my, sms: 36663 dan emel: aduan@kpdnhep.gov.my.

MARIMUTHU NADASON,
Presiden Fomca.

Berita Harian, 22 Disember 2005

Bank fees hike irk consumer groups

Fauwaz Abdul Aziz
Dec 15, 05 5:53pm

Consumer groups have come out strongly against local banks which they say are flouting guidelines on savings and current account charges issued by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).

“We are dissatisfied with how commercial banks are imposing unfair charges and with BNM for failing to enforce its guidelines,” said Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) treasurer-general Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman today.

“What we wish to raise at this point is the failure of an authority such as BNM to enforce regulations that they themselves made.

“We do not want these guidelines to serve as a mere gimmick to appease consumers,” he added.

Yusof was speaking to reporters during a protest that took place in front of an RHB Bank branch in Petaling Jaya. The protest was jointly-organised with the National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC) and Era Consumer (Era).

Last January, a flood of complaints forced the central bank to issue guidelines on fees that can be imposed by banks on current and savings accounts and services, as well as for online transactions.

The guidelines, among others, limits half yearly service charges to RM10 for current account monthly balances of less than RM1,000. The guidelines also stipulate that banks provide for eight free automated-teller machine (ATM) cash withdrawals per month.

Banks, however, were not only charging for less than eight ATM cash withdrawals a month, but had, in other instances, also increased the charges, said Yusof.

Cannot afford

One such bank was RHB which recently notified its My1 current account holders that effective January 2006, RM5 would be deducted every month if their daily average balance fell below RM5,000.

Yusof (right) said the protest was held in front of the particular branch as Fomca, NCCC, and their staff members held current accounts there.

NCCC chairman Darshan Singh had more to say on RHB’s announcement.

“How do you expect a person to have a RM5,000 account balance every month?” he asked. “The average annual income of the population is RM18,000, which approximates RM1,500 monthly. At the end of the day, everybody will have to pay. That's the bottom line,” he added.

“The average Malaysian cannot afford to have more than RM5,000 in their current account. It's tantamount to saying, ‘Yes, you must pay’. Customers are being fooled.”

Darshan said increases in charges were occurring not only at RHB but at other banks as well.

“It’s not only RHB. We’re talking about all banks,” he said, adding that Maybank still charges 50 sen for cash withdrawals at ATMs exceeding four times a month.

RHB Bank Desa Tunku branch manager Beh Kok Lee, who received the groups’ protest letter, said he would relay it to the bank’s headquarters.

Orang ramai dinasihat elak pembaziran guna SMS

KUALA LUMPUR 15 Dis. - Orang ramai perlu lebih berhati-hati ketika menggunakan khidmat pesanan ringkas (SMS) bagi mengelakkan berlakunya pembaziran.

Setiausaha Agung Gabungan Persatuan-Persatuan Pengguna Malaysia (FOMCA), Muhammad Sha'ani Abdullah berkata, walaupun ia merupakan hak mereka tetapi mereka perlu meneliti setiap kali menggunakan khidmat itu.

``Pengguna perlu membuat pertimbangan dan waspada dalam menggunakan perkhidmatan itu memandangkan kadar pesanan itu adalah tetap walaupun pengguna menggunakan satu huruf sahaja,'' katanya ketika dihubungi hari ini.

Beliau berkata demikian berikutan pendedahan yang dibuat oleh Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif TM Net Sdn. Bhd., Micheal Lai bahawa rakyat Malaysia membelanjakan kira-kira 47 juta sehari melalui SMS.

Jumlah tersebut dibuat berdasarkan andaian bahawa setiap SMS dikenakan bayaran purata 10 sen.

Berdasarkan perangkaan itu, ini bermakna bahawa setiap pengguna telefon bimbit di seluruh negara membelanjakan sebanyak RM88 sebulan hanya untuk menggunakan perkhidmatan itu.

Jumlah itu tidak termasuk dengan kadar panggilan, perkhidmatan memuat turun nada dering, mesej bergambar dan sebagainya.

Dalam pada itu, Presiden Persatuan Pengguna Selangor dan Wilayah Persekutuan (SWPCA), Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman menyifatkan bahawa pengguna kadangkalanya tidak menyedari ketika menggunakan perkhidmatan itu sehingga menyebabkan mereka menanggung kos yang tinggi.

Selain itu, beliau juga memberitahu pengguna bahawa mereka perlu lebih berhemah dalam pendapatan mereka memandangkan kos hidup yang semakin meningkat sejak kebelakangan ini.

Koordinator Persatuan Pengguna Islam Malaysia (PPIM), Noor Nirwandy Mat Noordin berkata, pihaknya memandang perkara tersebut sebagai satu aliran yang tidak sihat dan mengelirukan pengguna.

- Utusan Malaysia, 16 Disember 2005

7 reason why Keng Yaik should not approve electricity tariff increase

Monday, December 12 @ 17:50:20 MYT


By LIM GUAN ENG

TENAGA Nasional Bhd (TNB) plans to borrow up to RM700mil to fund its operational expenses for the current financial year (FY) ending August 2006 is insufficient reason to approve the electricity tariff increase.

TNB Chief financial officer Izzaddin Idris said two days ago that without a tariff hike, TNB's financial position beyond August 2006 may be untenable as it has to meet RM200mil in debt repayment. TNB has debts of RM 29.9 billion and claim to require RM 4.5 billion in capital expenditure next year.

DAP hopes that Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik will not be tricked by Tenaga into giving an electricity tariff increase when he reviews this month the electricity tariff rates for next year. There are 7 reasons why Lim Keng Yaik should say "No" to Tenaga and look after the national interests of 25 million Malaysians who expect him to stand up for their right to enjoy reasonable rates.

One , Tenaga saved hundreds of millions of ringgit when Lim Keng Yaik failed to perform his duty as a Minister by breaking his promise to make Tenaga pay compensation to the public for losses caused by the 3-hour blackout on 13 January 2005.

Two , Keng Yaik had rejected earlier Tenaga's demands for a tariff hike saying that it depended on the company's efficiency and the price of oil. Keng Yaik even said that a petrol price increase is not a ground, and most of the fuels like gas have fixed prices and are subsidized. Clearly Keng Yaik has shown that he is not a reliable, trustworthy and a responsible Minister.

It is true the average price paid by Tenaga for coal jumped 46 per cent in the three months to May 31 this year, to US$49.80 (RM189) per tonne from US$ 33 per tonne over the same period a year earlier. However, most of Malaysia's power plants run on natural gas. Since May 1997, Petronas has supplied processed gas to Tenaga and the independent power producers (IPPs) at a regulated price of RM6.40 per mmbtu (British thermal unit) as compared to the current market price of more than RM 30/-.

Noting that 70% of power plants were gas-fuelled, Lim Keng Yaik had said the market demand for natural gas of 2,500 million metric British thermal units (mmBtu) was above Petronas' production capacity of 2,000 mmBtu. Petronas imports the additional 500 mmBtu from Indonesia and Thailand at RM30 per mmBtu but sells it to Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) at RM6.40 per mmBtu. As long as Tenaga enjoys such subsidies there is no reason why such savings can not be passed on to consumers.

Three , Petronas has subsidised the power sector more than RM25 billion since 1997, of which RM14 billion or 55% went to the IPPs, whilst the remaining RM 11 billion is enjoyed by Tenaga. For Tenaga to seek a tariff hike when it has enjoyed direct subsidies of RM 11 billion is unacceptable, ungrateful, irresponsible and not in the national interest.

Four , Petronas' subsidies to the IPPs of RM 14 billion since 1997 must be abolished. The RM 14 billion subsidies to the IPPs could be better spent on funding the capital expenditure and maintenance requirements of Tenaga. As the IPPs are private companies enjoying special rates for generating electrical power that Tenaga is forced to purchase, there is no reason for IPPs to enjoy such huge subsidies of RM 14 billion to profit at Tenaga and Malaysian consumers' expense..

Fifth, Tenaga has no justification for increasing electricity tariffs when it has increased its profits why should Malaysians pay higher tariffs when we have sacrificed and lost so much when Tenaga and the IPPs have made huge profits from the Petronas gas subsidy of RM 25 billion. DAP strongly opposes electricity tariff increase by Tenaga Nasional Bhd as unfair when Tenaga recorded a 57% net profit increase to RM 1.28 billion in the year to August as compared to RM 813.7 million the previous year. Tenaga has even less justification for increasing electricity rates after declaring to 12 sen dividend and for the first time a 1 for 4 bonus share issue.

Tenaga identified the 57% net profit increase to improved efficiency, a fall in general expenses losses and foreign exchange (forex) gains of RM 141.8 million as compared to a loss of RM 571.8 millon last year. Clearly Tenaga can reap profits by improving its efficiency and not by increasing tariffs.

DAP remains concerned at the persistent attempts of taking the easy way out to increase earnings by increasing electricity tariffs and not accept its poor and inefficient management as the underlying cause. If the government gives in to Tenaga's demands, such increase in electricity tariffs shall have an adverse national impact on the economy, especially in fueling inflation and causing hardship to 25 million Malaysians. With inflation at a six and a half-year high of 3.7% in August 2005, any increase in electricity prices may fuel inflation past 4%.

Six , why should Tenaga get a tariff hike when it is not required to subsidise SESB (Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd). Every year, TNB gave more than RM200mil to SESB. Now the Government has agreed to subsidise the diesel cost amounting to RM339mil, which have already been billed to the government. Such savings should be passed on to consumers.

Seven, reducing the Tenaga's high reserve margin of 40% by reviewing unfair compulsory power purchase agreements of power generated by IPPs to Tenaga contracted at higher than market rates. Such IPP agreements which were made not for the benefit of Malaysians but for the few cronies of BN.

Tenaga's rate of return of 5.2% is amongst the lowest amongst utility companies in South-East Asia. TNB's net profit of RM1.28 billion for 2005 was only 2% of return on assets (ROA) of RM60 billion in assets. This is caused by its high costs especially payments to Independent Power Producers (IPP) comprising 40.5% of its total costs. Staff 9.9%, fuel 19% and depreciation 17% are the other main components of costs.

Clearly the high and unreasonable payments to IPPs are the main obstacles to higher net profits for Tenaga and not increasing electricity tariffs. Forcing Tenaga to purchase power from IPPs and guaranteeing payments for power generated that Tenaga does not need has caused Tenaga's costs to rise. Guaranteeing purchase of power produced by IPPs which Tenaga has allowed some IPPs to enjoy rates of return of more than 12% as compared to Tenaga's 5.2%.
-zs