Your TNB bill, September 2026: 600 kWh is the line — one unit over adds RM42.42

The bill is higher than last month's, and your first instinct is to go looking for the tariff table. On a TNB household bill, what decides whether you pay AFA, the 8% service tax and the retail charge at all is how many units you used in the month.

TNB's statement of 15 September 2026 says households that use 600 kilowatt-hours (kWh) a month and below are completely exempt from AFA, the automatic fuel cost adjustment, whether it lands as a rebate or as a surcharge. The same households aren't charged the 8% service tax or the retail charge either. TNB's statement

Cross that line and all three come back, and AFA is worked out on every unit used in the month, not only on the units above 600 kWh. The September 2026 rate is +3.67 sen/kWh.

What stands out

• 600 kWh is a threshold, not a sliding scale. TNB's statement says households on 600 kWh a month and below are completely exempt from AFA, whether it lands as a rebate or as a surcharge, and that the 8% service tax and the retail charge aren't applied to them either. That line, and the rates below, are for TNB's household customers.
• Above the line, AFA is charged on the whole month. The workings in TNB's bill calculator put it plainly: once the month goes above 600 kWh, every unit used that month is multiplied by the AFA rate. A home on 700 kWh pays RM25.69 in AFA; one on 800 kWh pays RM29.36. TNB's bill calculator
• The AFA rate for September 2026 is +3.67 sen/kWh. TNB says the figure is refreshed monthly and published on mytnb.com.my/tariff once the Energy Commission has confirmed it. Single Buyer's AFA page records the same 3.67 sen/kWh and notes that households using 600 kWh a month and below aren't affected by AFA.
• AFA isn't a charge that appeared in 2026. TNB says it came in on 1 July 2025 with the electricity tariff restructuring, replacing the Imbalance Cost Pass-Through (ICPT); it isn't an additional charge, and none of it goes to TNB's profit. It runs both ways: a rebate when costs fall, a shared difference when they rise. Customers had nine consecutive months of AFA rebates from August 2025 to April 2026, and the surcharge only started in May 2026.
• TNB says AFA does not cause a sudden jump in a bill; how the home uses power does. The same statement points to festive seasons, school holidays and working from home changing how a household uses its appliances, which then shows up on the monthly bill. It also says households on 600 kWh and below pay about 2% to 14% less under the new tariff than under the previous one, depending on how much they use.
• The Prime Minister's statement on 16 September 2026 says around 80% of household customers use no more than 600 kWh a month. The same statement says the recent haze and hotter weather have pushed some households past the 600 kWh threshold in a month and into AFA, and that a special meeting was set for 17 September 2026 with the Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (PETRA), the Energy Commission, TNB and the Ministry of Finance, to review immediate measures to soften the impact of higher bills on the households affected. Bernama's report in Malay Mail

How the bill adds up

The figures below come from the household rates and workings in TNB's own bill calculator, over a single monthly billing cycle, with AFA at the September 2026 rate of +3.67 sen/kWh. Energy is 27.03 sen a unit for a month totalling 1,500 kWh or below, capacity 4.55 sen and network 12.85 sen. AFA and the RM10 retail charge apply only when the month goes above 600 kWh, and the 8% service tax isn't charged on the whole bill: it applies to the charges on the part above 600 kWh, plus that RM10 retail charge.

Two more lines sit on the bill, and both are inside the totals below. One is the energy efficiency incentive: a rebate per unit set by the band the month's total falls in, and it's worth more the less you use — 22.5 sen a unit in the band that takes in 300 kWh, 12 sen at 500 kWh, 9 sen at 600 kWh, 7.5 sen from 601 to 650 kWh, and only 0.5 sen at 1,000 kWh. The other is the 1.6% electricity fund (KWTBB), charged only when the month goes above 300 kWh.

• 300 kWh in the month: RM65.79. No AFA, no retail charge, no service tax.
• 500 kWh: RM164.74. Again, none of the three.
• 600 kWh: RM215.98. The last step with none of the three on the bill.
• 601 kWh: RM258.40. That's RM42.42 more than the 600 kWh home. RM22.06 of it is AFA (601 kWh × 3.67 sen) and RM10 is the retail charge. On top of that, the energy efficiency incentive shrinks from RM54.00 to RM45.07.
• 700 kWh: RM316.77. AFA alone is RM25.69.
• 800 kWh: RM375.84. AFA alone is RM29.36.
• 1,000 kWh: RM509.06. AFA alone is RM36.70.

What readers ask most

• How do I check how many units I've used so far this month? TNB suggests the myTNB app for monthly use; on a smart meter you can also see daily use.
• Will the AFA rate move again? It's set once a month. Single Buyer's AFA page carries the outlook as published on TNB's website: AFA is projected to range from +2.81 sen to +5.48 sen a unit from October to December 2026, a forecast dated 7 August 2026. That's a projection, not a rate that has been set.
• What does TNB suggest for staying under 600 kWh? Four things, in the same statement: keep an eye on your use on myTNB; set the air conditioner between 24°C and 26°C, use the timer and pick appliances rated 4 or 5 stars; switch to Time of Use (TOU), where the off-peak hours run 22:00 to 14:00 Monday to Friday and all day on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays; and put solar on the roof — under Solar ATAP and SuRIA Home a 5kWac system qualifies for a rebate of up to RM3,000, with a payback period of around 8 years.
• I've already gone past 600 kWh. What now? AFA is worked out on the whole month's units, so what you can still move is the use ahead of you, and the four suggestions above are what TNB points to. On the special meeting of 17 September 2026: as at 14:30 on 17 September 2026, no outcome has been published.

The other price change: unsubsidised fuel, 35 sen a litre more

The Ministry of Finance said in a statement on 16 September 2026 that for the period 17 to 23 September 2026 the retail prices of RON97, unsubsidised RON95 and unsubsidised diesel each rise by 35 sen a litre: RON97 from RM4.50 to RM4.85, unsubsidised RON95 from RM4.02 to RM4.37, and unsubsidised diesel from RM4.92 to RM5.27. Bernama

Eligible BUDI95 recipients keep paying RM1.99 a litre, with the government carrying RM2.38 a litre, or 54% of the unsubsidised RM4.37. Eligible BUDI Diesel recipients pay RM2.10 a litre, with the government carrying RM3.17 a litre, or 60% of RM5.27. The same statement says the basic monthly entitlement for BUDI95 and BUDI Diesel went back up to 300 litres from 1 September 2026, and that eligible pick-up and jeep diesel owners get another 100 litres, bringing them to a maximum of 400 litres a month.

Where to check your own use and rate

• Use, by month and by day: the myTNB app. TNB says smart meter customers can see daily use as well.
• Rates and the AFA figure for the month: mytnb.com.my/tariff. TNB says the page is refreshed every month once the Energy Commission has confirmed the figure, and you can put your own units into the bill calculator on the same page.
• Why AFA is what it is: Single Buyer's AFA page, which carries the rate for the month, the fuel prices behind it and the projected range ahead.
• Queries on a bill: TNB's CareLine on 1300-88-5454, 08:00 to 19:00 on working days and 08:00 to 17:00 on weekends and public holidays. There's also CareLine@mytnb.my by email, TNB Careline on Facebook and @Tenaga_Nasional on X.

Before you pay

• If the month stops at 600 kWh or below, none of the three — AFA, the 8% service tax, the retail charge — appears on the bill: on TNB's calculator a 600 kWh home pays RM215.98.
• If you've already crossed 600 kWh, AFA is worked out on every unit of the month: a 601 kWh home pays RM22.06 in AFA and RM42.42 more than the 600 kWh home — the three charges, plus a thinner energy efficiency incentive, down from RM54.00 to RM45.07.
• If you want to know how far off the line you are, open myTNB, look at the units used in the month so far, and decide whether to set the air conditioner to the 24°C to 26°C that TNB suggests.

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