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SABAH Electricity (SE) is taking steps to improve the power supply to a Kepayan commercial centre and Manggatal residential property in a bid to minimise the risk of outages affecting consumers in these areas.

The company is also seeking the co-operation of third-party contractors to provide the firm with advance notice of their work, especially when these endeavours involve widening roads or having underground installations put in place. SE hopes, in this way, to minimise any power disruptions that may be caused by such excavations.

This action was prompted by feedback from a Penampang kidney patient and Manggatal apartment-owner.

The former had to wait for more than three hours to undergo his regular dialysis procedure on one occasion, after the premises he goes to in Kepayan was hit by a blackout, while the latter was upset by the power cuts which she had to endure over the course of three days. 

In the worst instance, the Manggatal consumer lost her supply for three-and-a-half hours in the morning and again for six hours and forty minutes that same night.

Both individuals provided Hotline with the pertinent details, regarding their experiences, which were forwarded to the company.

A SE spokesman said an inspection was made of its installations servicing shops at Block A, Lorong Pusat Komersil 88, shortly after it learned what had transpired at the dialysis centre.

“Our personnel had a look at the electrical fixtures at the dialysis centre, together with the staff at the premises, to get a better understanding of the power situation here.”

He said both parties later engaged in a discussion to strategise on potential improvements which could be implemented to reduce the likelihood of the centre being hit by blackouts in future.

The firm’s staff also examined its assets nearest to Block A, according to him. 

“Our system in this part of Kepayan was found to be operating normally and safely at the time.”

The spokesman said a check of SE’s records showed that the commercial centre had experienced a power cut for over 180-minutes three days earlier.

“Staff at the dialysis centre lodged a report with us around 11.06am, with the supply restored around 2.20pm. He said a technical team was assigned to go to the premises as soon as the company became aware of the outage. 

“At the time, however, we experienced a spike in complaints and our staff were swamped attending to each of these problems in turn. When they got to the dialysis centre, our technicians found that a yellow phase protector fuse [‘fius perlindungan fasa kuning’] at the meter for the premises had burnt out.”

He said repairs were made on the spot. “We are still trying to determine the factors which could have contributed to this situation.” 

Where the apartments were concerned, the spokesman said workers with a third-party contractor repeatedly dug into sections of the electricity cables, which were buried underground along KM 20 Jalan Tuaran. 

He said these actions affected the 11kilovolt and 33KV high voltage systems in the area.

He said the contractor was carrying out some construction work in this part of Manggatal.

“It took a bit of time to restore the supply to the affected consumers, after each outage, as our technicians had to test the system on these occasions,” he said.

He said the contractor was given a stern reminder to be more careful in performing the building work so as not to keep damaging the SE assets in the area.

“Nevertheless, given the repeated inconvenience caused to our consumers, we decided to have the supply to our Bandar Sierra consumers channelled through an additional source: the ‘Pencawang Pembahagi Utama Gudon (Gudon Main Distribution Substation)’. This move was taken to try and improve the power situation at the apartments and commercial centres nearby.”

SE previously acknowledged that the accidental damage of its installations, including overhead lines and electricity poles, was among the chief causes for blackouts in the State.

“This is especially so in rural areas,” another spokesman said at the time. 

“Contractors unwittingly hit our underground cables while digging into the soil creating a weak point in places where the damage occurs. The damaged sections of our installations will be repaired but these ‘weak points’ may give rise to problems with our system in future.”

He said a SE representative could be assigned to construction sites to minimise the incidence of such accidental damage.

“This can only be done if we are forewarned of where this work is taking place.  To this end, we advise developers and contractors to notify us beforehand of the location of their projects.”