SESB and police at the scene of the cable theft.
KOTA KINABALU (Nov 30): The electricity supply disruption experienced by consumers in several areas on Sunday night was caused by cable theft.
Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Nasser Abdul Wahid in a statement on Tuesday said investigations revealed that a 66kV cable near the Tanjung Aru traffic light junction belonging to SESB had been cut and stolen.
He said that the cable damage resulted in supply being cut off to two main substations, namely the Karamunsing Main Inlet Substation (PMU) and the Kundasang Main Distribution Substation.
“The supply disruption affected consumers around Karamunsing, Kiulu, Pekan Nabalu and Kundasang with an estimated total loss of load by SESB of 14MW affecting almost 13,536 consumers starting from about 9 pm on Sunday,” Abdul Nasser said.
“SESB regrets this irresponsible act and will work with the police to ensure the perpetrators and masterminds can be brought to justice. We will also implement several joint initiatives with police so that such incidents can be prevented,” he said during a joint visit with the police to the location of the theft.
Abdul Nasser explained that the impact of the cable theft incident had caused supply instability to several locations around Kota Kinabalu.
SESB should use interim methods by channeling electricity through alternative supply sources including placing mobile generators at strategic locations to ensure electricity is supplied continuously to the affected consumers.
Restoration work on the damaged cable in the Kota Kinabalu to PMU Karamunsing section as well as the completion of another cable in the UMS PMU section to the Karamunsing PMU as another source of additional supply is in progress.
“Efforts to repair the 66kV cables are being implemented and it is estimated that it will take two weeks to complete,” he said, adding that to ensure continued supply can be provided to all users, interim measures have been implemented including deploying seven mobile generators to several areas.
Abdul Nasser said as a long-term solution, SESB was also actively implementing grid upgrades through central area reinforcement projects to replace the obsolete 66kV transmission system to the 132kV system around Kota Kinabalu.
“This effort will be followed by the start-up of several new 132kV Main Substations (PMUs) in stages early next year, namely Penampang PMU, Kota Kinabalu PMU, Inanam PMU and Tg Lipat PMU which will stabilize electricity supply in Kota Kinabalu in the future.”