Energy Commission issues revised guide for cross-border electricity sales

28 October 2021

On 22 October 2021, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Malaysia issued a media release stating the following:

• The Guide for Cross-Border Electricity Sales (“CBES Guide”) issued by the Energy Commission (“EC”) will be reviewed to include the following: (i) only non-renewable energy is allowed to be exported to Singapore; and (ii) power sales through self-developed transmission and interconnection facilities to Singapore will not be allowed;
• The wheeling charges for the sale of electricity to Singapore for the two year trial period will be US$2.28 cents/kWh; and
• The quota for the Net Energy Metering (“NEM”) Net Offset Virtual Aggregation Programme will be increased by an additional 300MW. The additional quota may be applied through the Sustainable Energy Development Authority’s eNEM system, starting from 15 November 2021.

Following the media release, the EC issued a revised CBES Guide (“Revised CBES Guide”) on 25 October 2021.

Salient features of the Revised CBES Guide include:

• updates to definitions of terms; and
• revised terms and conditions for participation.

The Revised CBES Guide signals a shift in the government national policy to refocus the generation and distribution of renewable energy within Malaysia, which is consistent with Malaysia’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% pursuant to the Paris Agreement.