SANDAKAN: Sandakan MP Vivian Wong urged the Energy Commission of Sabah (ECoS) to act and enforce regulations according to current Sabah ground situation instead of copy blindly from the previous Suruhanjaya Tenaga’s (ST) standard.
Vivian, who is also DAP Sabah Secretary, made the call after attending a briefing by ECoS Director of East Coast Territory, Ir. Ts. Norice @ Mohd Nazrie Itom @ Marcus, Thursday.
She said she received complaints from people who operate generator sets at their business premises or residences about the excessive frequency of inspection reporting required every month by the ECoS.
“For example, in addition to the annual generator set licence renewal, anyone operating a generator set with a capacity of not more than 600V will need to engage a certified competent electrician to inspect and submit a report to ECoS once a month.
“If the capacity of the generator set exceeds 11,000V, the owner will need to submit the inspection report four times a month,” she said.
Each inspection report could cost between RM400 and RM500 per generator.
Vivian said such a requirement is rather nonsensical, in view that most of the generator sets installed by private sectors here are mainly on standby, catering only to emergency use during power outage.
“Such requirement to submit multiple reports every month would most likely end up as mere paper exercise that resulted in added cost to the people.
“I am fully aware of the need to ensure a safe operating environment for generator sets installed.
“But, instead of calling for submission of inspection report multiple times a month, the ECoS enforcement team should conduct frequent random checks on those who are operating generators, and issue a heavy fine to those who are not complying with the requirement,” suggested Vivian.
“The ECoS is ‘wholly owned’ by the State Government since Jan 3, 2024 and as such, it should be carrying out its duty and responsibility according to the ground situation in Sabah, instead of just blindly copying every set of rules and regulations from its predecessor.
“After all, is it not the objective to replace ST with ECoS in the first place so that we Sabahan can decide what is best for our people?” asked Vivian.
