SANDAKAN – Imagine getting charged RM60 per month for owning a clothes iron or RM100 for an air-conditioning unit to cool your home.
This is how residents of Kg Sundang Laut in Batu Sapi here pay their electricity bill – based on how many electrical appliances they have, instead of their actual power consumption.
The village is one of three here where residents pay their power bill through a third party, namely an appointed independent power distributor (IPD), that then forwards the payment to Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB).
“This kind of charging method is a burden to us, as the electricity bill could be double or triple what SESB would charge,” said Kg Sundang Laut village community management council member Shahryansah Joseph.
“It is obviously unfair as (the IPD) charges us based on the number of electrical appliances we have instead of our power usage.”
Most of the villagers comprise factory workers, with a small number working as fishermen. They are largely in the B40 group, and the high electricity bill is a burden indeed.
“None of us can afford an air conditioner here. They would charge us RM100 per month even if we didn’t use it,” resident Juliana Badir told The Vibes.
Woes continue
Kg Sundang Laut, Kg Bongaya Baru and Kg Batu Sapi Laut got their electricity supply from an IPD called C3 Power until the company failed to pay its RM250,000 debt, causing a weeks-long power cut in the villages in March 2017.
After the incident, said Shahryansah, the late Datuk Stephen Wong Tien Fatt, who was former Sandakan MP, joined villagers in rejecting electricity bill collection by IPDs.
The responsibility of collecting payment was then passed on to elected representatives, with some of them paying out of their own pocket to settle outstanding bills with SESB to prevent the villages from plunging into darkness.
Those who took on this task were former Batu Sapi MP Datuk Linda Tsen, former Sekong assemblyman Datuk Samsudin Yahya, the late Datuk Liew Vui Keong and former rep Arifin Asgali.
The billing method, however, was not changed.
Last October, Village Support Service Sdn Bhd (VSSSB) offered to supply electricity to the villages using the prepaid method.
“We were required to pay before we even used the electricity,” said Shahryansah.
“So, we brought it to the attention of all the YBs we knew, and even lodged a police report against the company.
“We got what we wanted – the plan for VSSSB to take over was cancelled. Now, we are back to square one. Our electricity payment is handled by the Batu Sapi parliamentary office.”
SESB can’t provide direct supply
The reason the state electricity provider is unable to provide supply directly is because the villages are not yet gazetted, meaning they are still categorised as squatter areas.
However, the constituency’s Kg Bokara and Kg Istimewa received electricity from SESB years before they were gazetted, making this is a sore point for other villages.
Kg Bongaya Baru was recently gazetted, but has yet to receive word on its power supply status.
Sekong assemblyman Alias Sani told villagers that he is working towards holding direct talks on the matter with SESB in Kota Kinabalu.
His success would be vital, given that Batu Sapi is expected to hold a by-election following Liew’s death last week.
Kg Bongaya Baru, Kg Batu Sapi Laut and Kg Sundang Laut have more than 1,800 households in a constituency with 32,574 registered voters. – The Vibes, October 6, 2020
