What it Takes for the Middle Class in Malaysia to Go Solar
A view of a city from a hill in Selangor | Photo: Weyfoto Loh/Unsplash
In an article for Asian Dispatch and NYSEAN Partner, Macaranga, Siew Lyn Wong asserts that as higher electricity bills make solar power more attractive, loans and rent-to-own schemes can help middle-class families overcome ownership cost barriers.
Cheaper solar power is increasingly attractive for the middle class in light of rising electricity bills. And bills will keep rising due to Malaysia’s fossil fuel dependence to generate electricity. Yet many households hesitate switching to solar because of the high upfront installation cost. They also distrust the reliability of solar tech. The government and industry are finding ways to make solar more affordable, reliable, and sustainable.
In Simpang Ampat, Penang, Sau Soon Sian, 43, and Lim Shu Yee, 31, bought an electric car in 2024 because they like to try new things. Sau is a technical artist, and Lim, a multimedia designer.
The latter drives the car to work and ferry their five-year-old daughter to-and-from daycare and classes. But charging the car added about RM100 (USD 24) to the family’s monthly electricity bill of RM220–250 (USD 54-62). To reduce this cost, they got a home solar system six months after buying their car.
The 6.1kWp solar system cost RM19,000 (USD 4700) to install, which was a hefty commitment. To pay for this, they borrowed from their family, rather than get a bank loan. They then applied for and got a RM4,000 (USD 990) cash rebate from the government’s Solar for Rakyat Incentive Scheme (SolaRIS).
They expect that what they save in electricity bills will cover their loan in less than six years. SolaRIS ended in April last year and in June this year, was replaced by a rebate scheme for TNB’s Solar Accelerated Transition Action Programme (Solar ATAP), which feeds excess electricity back to the grid.
