SABAH HIT BY MASSIVE POWER CUT

KOTA KINABALU: Almost 90 per cent of Sabah was hit by a massive power cut yesterday.

This happened after the 153KV transmission line between Inanam and Karambunai tripped and subsequently triggered a tripping at the independent power plant (IPP) in Sepanggar Bay near here and many power stations in the west coast area. The problem started at about 6.45pm causing the major power system to collapse.

“As a result, we lost some 500 megawatts and that is why so many consumers were affected,” Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) corporate communications manager Chendramatah Sinteh told New Sabah Times when contacted yesterday evening. According to her, this was one of the worst power outages ever recorded in the state so far.

She said most of the 300,000-odd registered consumers including business premises except those in Beaufort, Keningau, Tambunan, Tenom, Papar, Ranau and Telupid as well as Labuan, were affected by the major power outage.

“But, we began to restore power in stages after 7pm,” she said and added that electricity supply in Sandakan was fully restored at 9.55pm. To a question, Chendramatah said they could not ascertain when they could fully restore power in the affected areas but were doing their level best.

“We want to apologise to consumers for the inconvenience,” she said, adding that this was something unavoidable and beyond their control.