MIRI: Syarikat Sesco Berhad (Sesco) yesterday disclosed that most of the frequent high tension breakdowns in Piasau areas were caused by underground cable faults which they had minimal control over.
According to its regional manager, Yusri Safri, the company was aware of the frequent breakdowns and shared the dismay experienced by their customers in the said residential area.
“Underground cables are currently the best form of electrical installation used in our distribution system and generally does not fail over a long span of life.
“Sometimes, however, when a major fault occurs and fault currents are high, there is a tendency of the fault damaging weaker points in the underground system, thus leading to new faults elsewhere along the cable, which may eventually affect and deteriorate the cable lifespan,” he said.
In the event of cable fault, Yusri said Sesco would dispatch their men to restore electrical supply through their contingency supply where technically possible.
“At the same time, they will be commencing the challenging cable fault locating process, which may result in secondary outages,” he said, adding that subsequently, upon location, the cable would be repaired and electricity supply normalised.
As an immediate solution to the frequent outages at Piasau, Yusri said Sesco would arrange for their men to install earth fault indicating gadgets on each substation to expedite the fault locating process to achieve a shorter restoration time.
“Sesco will also conduct tests on every stretch of the cable along this circuit to identify weak links in the system and carry out the relevant repair works.
“As a long term measure, the company may consider replacing these cables if the tests indicate that the quality levels are low,” he pointed out.