SESB to undergo revamp to improve Sabah's electricity supply - Bung Moktar

 

The Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB), which manages electricity supply in Sabah, will undergo a major restructuring to ensure it is competitive and able to provide the best services to the people.

Towards this end, Sabah deputy chief minister Bung Moktar Radin said the company had outlined five key result areas (KRA) for this transformation.

The areas are focusing on Incentive-based Regulation starting from January next year, security of supply, improving customers satisfaction, increasing cash flow, and organisational transformation.

“The company has been incurring losses, as well as facing inadequate supply and power outages. Hence, we have discussed (this matter) with the ministry at the federal level to restructure SESB and this has been agreed upon.

“When SESB is able to bounce back, only then we will takeover (ownership) and manage the electricity supply ourselves. It is hoped that all (processes) can be settled in five to six years,” he said at a media briefing at the Sabah Works Department headquarters in Kota Kinabalu today.

Bung Moktar also hoped that the Sabah Energy Commission and the Sabah Sustainable Energy Development Authority (Seda) could be established so as to manage the electricity supply in the state more efficiently.

Besides that, to resolve the electricity supply problem in the east coast of Sabah, a new independent power producer (IPP) project with a quota of 1,000 megawatts (MW) utilising gas generation would be implemented in the area.

For a start, the federal government has given a quota of 300MW for electricity generation in the area by examining the approach including solar power and mobile barges, while waiting for the new IPP to be implemented.

According to him, the 300MW power generation would be temporary and was expected to be completed in one to one-and-a-half years, involving a cost of about RM1 billion.

"We will restructure SESB first and carry out the generation. When the 300MW power generation is ready, we will then launch the 1,000MW IPP, either in Sandakan, Tawau or Lahad Datu,” he said.

He said when the IPP is completed, the electricity transmission grid project, among them, for Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan, as well as Sandakan to Tawau, would proceed to ensure broad expansion of power supply and consumption. - Bernama