SESB tackles power irregularities
Published on: Friday, July 09, 2021
By: Sidney Skinner
.jpg "SESB tackles power irregularities")
SESB staff pruned the trees late last year, but if the sparks from the poles were to come in contract with this greenery her home would be at risk.
Three Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) customers, from Labuan, Tanjung Aru and Inanam respectively, have spoken out about the impact of the power irregularities they have experienced and how the firm is tackling these problems.The Labuanite has run up a sizeable bill over the years in repairing his household appliances which were damaged due to a voltage instability in his area.
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He submitted a compensation claim for some of these repairs last year and is displeased with the manner in which SESB handled this request.
The Tanjung Aru resident is concerned that he too may be hit with a hefty sum in repair costs if nothing is done about the frequent blackouts in his area soon.
The Inanam consumer, meanwhile, fears that her house may burn down after seeing sparks coming from the electricity pole near the main entrance to her land.
She hopes SESB will take better care of its installations to ensure that nothing unpleasant happens in her village.
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These customers provided Hotline with the location of their homes which was forwarded to the company.
Kg Tg Aru Lama residents are unhappy about the frequent blackouts in this area.
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A SESB spokeswoman for the company said the relevant sections would be queried about these matters.
“We will have to verify these allegations, before proceeding with further action,” she said.
SEAH of Labuan, said the electrical devices, including audio equipment, at his home in the Layang-Layangan area had been rendered out of order on multiple occasions.
“This has been going on for the past seven years or even more,” he said. “The damage was mainly to the circuit boards and transformers.”
He said he had tried to find out why this was repeatedly happening.
Sparks were seen coming from this electricity pole in Kg Sinulihan, Inanam.
“I initially had checks made of my supply, by measuring the voltage between the live, the neutral wire and the earthing for my residence.
“The readings, in these instances, always fell around the acceptable range of 230 volts.”
He said he made the SESB office on the island aware of his concerns about the recurring damage to his appliances.
“The firm’s personnel came to my house a few times but could find nothing amiss.”
Seah said he came into possession of a voltage-reader late last year.
“When I plugged it into one of the power-points inside my house, I was shocked to find a reading of about 280 volts.
“I doubled checked this result manually and found that reading between the live and neutral wires was 230 volts.”
Baffled by the discrepancy in the readings, he decided to check on the voltage of the electricity which was running through the live-earth and neutral-earth wires.
“I was shocked to discover an excess of 80 volts from the latter. Under normal circumstances, there should be only a negligible difference.”
He reported his findings to SESB’s Labuan branch. A team from this office came to his house some time later.
“The source of the discrepancy was traced to a streetlight along the road. Due to a questionable wiring connection, when the light is operative, an extra 80 volts passes into the neutral-line which also services my house.
“The additional 80 volts in the main power supply can prove potentially harmful, if not fatal, in the event of an accidental electrocution.”
Following this discovery, he filed a claim for the costs he had incurred in repairing his appliances with the island’s SESB office.
When no response was forthcoming after six months, he contacted the company’s headquarters in Sabah and was put in contact with an officer at its Karamunsing office.
The branches of the trees near this Inanam house once become entangled in the wires.
“This individual was initially helpful but later he told me to redirect my claim to the Labuan Corporation as the streetlights belonged to this body.”
Seah was dumbfounded by this turn of events.
“SESB supplies the power to my house so, as such, any problems with the supply should be put right by the company.
“As an end-user, we would not know exactly who or what may be contributing to the problems with the supply. Thus, SESB’s instruction for me to claim against a third party is ridiculous.
He was of the opinion that it would be impossible for him to seek his claims from the Corporation as he did not have a contract with this body.
“I believe the proper procedure would be for SESB to compensate me and then, in turn, make its own claim with the Corporation.
“It is sad that SESB, being the sole provider of electricity to the general public would wash its hands of the problems caused by its power supply.”
Seah said it had been more than a year since he had submitted all the necessary documents, including a police report about the outages and receipts for the repairs, to SESB but this problem had yet to be resolved.
FRED, who lives in Kg Tanjung Aru Lama, said the supply to households there had apparently been erratic, with disruptions occurring several times throughout the day and night.
“The blackouts last between several hours to 30 minutes each time,” he said.
He said the outages had been taking place more and more often of late.
“It is almost as if the electricity blinks on and off,” Fred said, adding that this happened every other day.
He said he had wearied of reporting these goings-on to SESB’s 15454 – Customer Management Centre – as the situation had yet to improve.
“Many of us living here fear that our electrical appliances may be damaged as a result of these blackouts.”
YUNI of Inanam, on the other hand, feared that her home would be at risk if the greenery, growing near the electricity poles on her land, were to catch on fire.
“I saw sparks coming from the pole near the front gate to my property,” she said.
“I suspect that this may be caused by the current moving through the overhead lines between these structures.”
She said there were cables and poles on one side of her house in Kg Sinulihan, with trees next to these installations.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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