Now You See, Now You Don't - SESB

Written by arimi sidek

Electricity: Now You See, Now You Don't
(Sabah Electricity Board, SEB, Sabah Electricity Sdn. Bhd., SESB)

I think most of us still remember the interesting TV commercial not long ago. At the moment I begin to feel that electricity supply in Sabah is quite like that. Its highly unreliable, unpredictable, and really troublesome to many.



Sabah Electricity

Well, it did a good thing to me. Without this unreliable supply of electricity, I wouldn't had discovered that my phone has text processor feature. But that is not the point I would like to highlight here.

Disruption of service simply too much to ignore as if it never happens, as it does and in terribly disturbing manner.

I noticed that there are two types of disruptions. The first, and more frequent is of the quick and short type. It is as if a prank plays off and on the main switch momentarily. It takes only 3 to 4 seconds, and the supply back to normal.



Blackout Cartoon

Others, long and of regular disruption type, lasting from 5 minutes to several hours.

But no matter what, I really hate them both. Sudden supplies disruption had caused me to lost many unfinished writing works. Imagine an hour or two of your work vanish in front of your eyes and nothing can be done about it. Such a waste of effort.

I wonder what is going on with SESB. Are they still using diesel-powered generators? If they are then this answer the short disruptions. It happens during generators switching process. As for the longer type, the only possibility I can think of is due to faulty generators.

I thought Pangi hydro electric station is big enough to provide electricity supply to major towns in Sabah. If station of that size were built to covered only Tenom district and the surrounding area, shutting it down is always the best decision to be made. At the very least, fresh water aquatic lifeforms that are currently trapped inside the huge dam be freed and they can live happily ever after somewhere's else.

Some years ago, former Chief Minister of Sabah Datuk Yong Teck Lee cited a popular joke on the then SEB - it stands for "Sabah Everyday Blackout" instead of Sabah Electricity Board.

That was the situation before Tenaga Nasional (TNB) took over. Now, with TNB the problem persist.

How about we invent a new meaning for SESB - Sabah Everyday Still Blackout.