KOTA KINABALU: Industry operators who are still unhappy over the newly introduced electricity tariff hike in the state are said to be further angered by Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd’s (SESB) move to carry out yet another power rationing exercise.
Sabah Federation of Industries (SFI) president Datuk Seri Wong Khen Thau said business operators were very frustrated that the State’s sole electricity provider had failed to improve their services to a satisfactory level despite having imposed the new tariff.
The latest rationing, he said, would surely cause more losses to various industries who have already endured millions of lost revenues due to frequent load shedding as well as total power outages over the years.
“The industry is very unhappy that the tariff was increased despite the electricity services having not lived up to standard, but we did not make much noise and only hoped that there will be improvement as promised.
“Unfortunately, the situation seems to be getting even worse. We sympathize with SESB for having to deal with a lot of issues but they need to stop making excuses and start to effectively solve the problem instead,”he said, when commenting on the ongoing power rationing affecting several areas in the east and west coast of Sabah.
SESB in a statement on Sunday said it has to ration electricity supply during peak demand period until early next week due to temporary stoppage of gas supply by Petronas that had affected two Independent Power Plants (IPP) in Kimanis.
The company had also informed that it was forced to activate its Demand Side Management (DSM) procedure for large power users to help reduce and limit the rationing period for normal consumers to no more than three hours per cycle.
A few other IPPs were also not operational or only partially operational while SESB’s own power stations were 29 years old and can no longer generate electricity efficiently.
Wong, when contacted yesterday, echoed Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman’s call on Monday for SESB to work closely with Petronas to solve the power rationing problem as soon as possible, so as to not cause further inconveniences and damage to the industries.
He said such problem caused by stoppage of fuel to power stations should have not happened in the first place and the parties involved should have taken necessary measures to avoid disrupting the operation of the IPPs.
“More importantly, the problem of poor electricity supply in Sabah should be over by now, especially now that we have a minister from Sabah in charge of power supply development. This is a serious problem affecting everyone, the industries, the commercial sector and domestic consumers.
“I just hope that something would be done to give us tangible results soon to show for the tariff increase, because as of now, the hike is not justified. It is okay to increase prices but the service must also be improved.
“If the IPPs cannot deliver, SESB has the right to look for other companies to provide the service or find ways to fully generate electricity themselves,”said Wong.