Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak today questioned Pakatan Harapan government's method of determining the number of Bottom 40 (B40) households in its electricity bill rebate programme.

Taking to Facebook, he said it is impossible that the country's B40 group only comprises of 185,000 households, identified by the government as eligible to enjoy free usage of monthly electricity of up to RM40.

Yesterday, the government announced that RM80 million will be allocated for the electricity bill rebate scheme which will benefit 185,000 households registered under the e-kasih programme.

"What announced (yesterday) is not the B40 group as reported by the local media. It is impossible that B40 consists of only 185,000 households," Najib said.

He said when he first introduced the scheme back in 2008 in his capacity as the finance minister, over 1.2 million people need not fork out a single sen if the bill was below RM20.

Najib pointed out that e-kasih is only eligible to households earning below RM1,500 (urban) and RM1,000 (rural), and part of B40 households earning below RM3,000.

"Meaning, over one million households in Malaysia which need not pay before will have to pay their electric bills beginning next month," he added.