Sesco urged to compensate customers affected by blackout

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Alan Ling Sie Kiong

MIRI: Syarikat Sesco Berhad (Sesco) should consider giving discounts to its customers affected by blackouts as a goodwill gesture.

A spate of blackouts in Miri this year had caused some disgruntled customers to complain to Democratic Action Party (DAP) Piasau assemblyman Alan Ling Sie Kiong who took the initiative to contact Sesco for an answer.

“As the sole provider of land-line electricity in Sarawak, Sesco should play a positive role as a responsible corporation concerned about the welfare of its customers,” said Ling after a DAP Miri press conference recently.

One such blackout that occurred on May 9 from 1pm to 2.30pm affected not only households but also traffic light operations, and even caused a fire to break out at a business premise in High Street where Ling went to inspect.

The following day, Ling faxed to Sesco Miri manager Yusri Safri and requested that the company provides rebate or a discount in electricity bills of affected customers, in alleviating losses suffered.

“While I appreciate that they took the trouble to reply me, I am disappointed that Sesco will not offer any rebate or discount — they cited non-existence of a policy to provide any compensation to customers,” said Ling who received a reply from Sesco on May 20 attributing the cause of the blackouts to overwhelming demand for electricity that caused overloading of the Sesco power grid.

He pointed out that the high demand for electricity indicates a very profitable business with good potential and little competition, so Sesco should reciprocate and consider giving some sort of relief to customers affected by the inconsistent supply of electricity.

“It’s about time Sesco implements a more customer-friendly policy to compensate those who were genuinely affected by electricity supply problems, for which it is their responsibility to ensure stable and uninterrupted supply,” he added.

Ling reminded public utility companies of their corporate responsibility to provide efficient services to the people of Sarawak, which will go a long way to upgrading their services to the levels experienced in developed countries.