Sabah's SESB Loses RM60 Mln A Year To Power Theft In Squatter Colonies

TAWAU, Sept 5 (Bernama) -- Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) faces RM60 million in losses annually to electricity theft that runs rampant in slum areas in Sabah, says its chief executive officer Mohd Yaakob Jaafar.

He said the theft was very significant and in order to curb it, SESB was taking measures to implement a special Independent Power Distributor (IPD) project by using pre-paid meters to supply electricity in the areas involved.

"There are many squatter colonies where electricity theft has been identified, for example in Kampung Hidayat Tawau, it is very obvious, where as soon as we enter the area we can find a nest of wires crisscrossing here and there.

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"Hence, the prepaid meter is an SESB strategy to curb electricity theft. We have implemented it in Kampung Flores, Sandakan and we will implement it in other areas in Sabah, apart from slums in Tawau, we are targeting Kampung Puyut, Lahad Datu, and many settlements where theft of electricity frequently occurs, as well as in Kota Kinabalu," he said here today.

According to Mohd Yaakob, the IPD concept is a method approved by the state government, with SESB appointing a concessionnaire to supply electricity in the involved areas and the payment charge for the non-subsidised tariff is about 47 sen.

"We don't want any members of the public to get electrocuted due to faulty cables, looking at the wiring that is stretched out in a haphazard manner and when stepped on, can be deadly," he added.

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Regarding the power outage that lasted for 17 hours in Kampung Pasir Putih here yesterday, he said the transformer at a substation here suffered damage and replacement work is being carried out.

"Regarding yesterday's incident, originally it was a scheduled shutdown of electricity supply for upgrading work to be done on an SESB cable.

"However, when we were almost finished, we were into the re-switching stage when one of the substations suddenly tripped. As of today replacement work is still ongoing while we have to rely on mobile generator sets to keep critical systems running," he added.

Mohd Yaakob said disgruntled consumers who have problems with electrical equipment damage could lodge a complaint at the SESB Tawau office and bring documents including a police report and photo evidence of the damage.

-- BERNAMA