Tenaga Nasional Bhd believes in helping people make their lives better by equipping them with the necessary skills and improving their livelihoods. The national utility company — which took the top spot for The Edge Billion Ringgit Club’s Best CR Initiatives, Super Big Cap, Above 

RM40 billion Market Capitalisation — seeks to leave a long-lasting positive impact on people and communities and protect the environment with its various programmes.

In 2020, despite being limited by the Covid-19 pandemic, TNB invested RM62.93 million in CSR activities and initiatives that span economic and social fields, the environment and education, including RM2.45 million for sports-related programmes.

A major part of the amount spent on CSR, RM49.22 million, was used for economic and social transformation. TNB not only advocates equal access to electricity, which it recognises as a basic need for daily life and socioeconomic growth, but also helps communities by providing liveable spaces with proper sanitation and opportunities to earn a livelihood.

“We are proud to collaborate with the government in achieving these ambitions, from ensuring electricity supply in rural areas to building homes for those in need.

“We have progressed with our Home Rewiring Programme to refurbish and rewire the homes of the underprivileged in Peninsular Malaysia. Our target is to rewire 1,000 homes and, to date, 316 homes have been rewired with a total contribution of RM141,915 in FY2020,” the group said in its latest Annual Report 2020.

TNB has also, with the support of the Ministry of Rural Development, supplied power to villages and Orang Asli settlements that are not within the operational area of local authorities. To date, TNB has improved connectivity in 30 villages and utilised off-grid alternatives such as solar hybrids, generator sets and mini hydro for remote rural settlements.

“The government established the Village Street Lighting (LJK) programme in 2002, with the purpose of ensuring public areas in remote villages are well lit at night, thus facilitating community safety. TNB is collaborating on the implementation of LJK, and this year we installed 20,634 streetlights in 6,397 villages,” the company shares.

The utility company is also empowering rural communities by providing financial assistance to selected areas. In 2020, TNB donated RM277,000 to two villages in Kedah — Kampung Kuala Temoyong and Kampung Weng — for various projects that would help improve the residents’ job prospects and incomes. The villages were selected based on certain criteria and supported for two years, the company says.

In addition, through the LED Streetlight Replacement Programme, TNB replaces high-pressure sodium vapour street lights with LED lights, which leads to both cost and energy efficiency, in all state capitals. It has so far installed 483,776 such lights across Peninsular Malaysia, up from 326,053 in FY2019.

TNB also took a step forward in protecting the environment via its annual Mangrove Planting Programme, which aims to enhance the protection of coastal environments and encourage sustainable fisheries in the vicinity of Janamanjung, Perak.

“In FY2020, some 10,600 mangrove saplings were planted in Sungai Limau, Manjung, with a total spend of RM250,000. This year’s initiative was in collaboration with the non-governmental organisation 

Global Environmental Centre and the Manjung District Office, along with the Sungai Limau community, Sahabat Hutan Bakau Kuala Gula and Sahabat Hutan Bakau Lekir Sitiawan,” it said.

TNB has also continued to protect the country’s firefly colonies with conservation efforts in areas such as Kampung Kuantan, Kuala Selangor, which has one of the largest firefly colonies in Southeast Asia, as well as Kampung Yak Yah, Kemaman, Terengganu; Kampung Sungai Timun, Rembau, Negeri Sembilan; and Kampung Dew, Taiping, Perak. The group has so far spent RM36,000 on infrastructure, community development and promotion and publicity for these areas.

In addition, since tourism was severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, TNB further contributed RM33,500 to 76 boatmen in the four firefly colonies.