‘Blackouts for five hours’

KOTA KINABALU: Consumers in Sabah faced 332 minutes (over five hours) of power disruptions on average in 2021, said Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) chief executive officer Mohd Yaakob Jaafar.Studies conducted found 49% of the 11kV medium voltage conductors in Sabah are not insulated, he said.This means these electrical conductors are very sensitive and could easily cause power supply disruptions, he added in a statement.

To address this, Yaakob said SESB was aggressively upgrading these uninsulated conductors and they hoped to see the problem reduced by between 30% and 50% in three years.

He said these lengthy upgrading works cost millions of ringgit and were being done in phases.

“In the short term, SESB is using a ‘rent management’ concept where concessionaires are responsible for maintaining electric conductors at areas that often suffer from power disruptions such as Tuaran, Keningau, Kota Marudu and Ranau.”