KOTA KINABALU: Parti Gerakan Sabah has demanded that Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) investigate and come up with an open explanation within seven days over the massive power outage on Friday.
In addition, they also urged the Federal Government to appoint an expert group to verify the report to ensure that the problem is sorted out once and for all.
“The people of Sabah have suffered enough over the years and we are no longer willing to compromise further on this issue,” said Gerakan Sabah State Youth chief Cleyrance Lee Chen Peng in a press statement, yesterday.
He said Sabahans are also demanding that the Federal Government step in and act on resolving this perennial problem.
“SESB should compensate all affected consumers in the form of monetary rebate in their coming bills and we welcome the assurance from the utility company in allowing customers to claim for damages to their electrical goods.
“Parti Gerakan Sabah would like the government authorities and relevant ministries to take the initiative to work with SESB to study, formulate and implement a comprehensive proactive plan to stop once and for all this repetitive collapse of such an important public service and to mandatorily hold the utility provider responsible for any future financial losses arising from such debacles.
“Although last Black Friday’s statewide power outage will go down in history as the most miserable and frustrating experience among Sabahans, going forward, we urge SESB to take our plight constructively and learn from the unfortunate occurrence. To SESB, no more Black Fridays, Sabahans want Light Fridays, everyday,” stressed Lee.
He further added that Sabahans have had enough, and that the final blow was the hours of power disruption on Friday.
“Enough is enough! Stop taking Sabahans for a ride,” he said in his comments following the unfortunate major statewide outage which hit and affected the whole of Sabah starting 11:05 am with only 70 per cent of power restored in stages as of 9pm the same day.
SESB, being the monopolistic supplier of the public utility service, has both social and moral obligations to explain to Sabahans for the Friday blackout. The blackout was simply unacceptable.
Sabahans have been taken for a free ride by SESB over the years on the frequent electricity disruptions (in some places it’s a daily occurrence) so much so that it has become part of our way of life, not to mention a laughingstock to our other fellow Malaysians from other states as well as visitors and tourists.
“The constant daily power supply disruptions culminating in last Friday’s embarrassing collapse and power outage have caused inconveniences and massive losses … and dare we even ask how many millions of Ringgit to the people of Sabah, to say the very least.
“Besides, the constant power supply disruptions and blackouts is unhealthy and if not resolved would cause further setbacks and hindrances to the economy of Sabah,” said Lee.
Frustrations with the inexcusable deplorable and unreliable power supply by SESB have become part of life for Sabahans.
He said in this day and age, we simply cannot accept this misery anymore.
“2020 is fast approaching and it does not seem that we are getting there. Last Friday’s statewide outage is the final straw for Sabahans. SESB should seriously get their act together and resolve these never ending problems. No more lame excuses!
“Is it so difficult for SESB to provide us with reliable power supply? SESB has revised its electricity tariffs recently which meant we should be getting better and improved service. Why are we paying more to enjoy continual frequent blackouts? Where were the contingencies to handle such a situation? What were the backups? All these are questions which we demand answers for,” said Lee.