Power outage compensation not a norm, says Taib

Power outage compensation not a norm, says Taib
Posted on November 29, 2012, Thursday

KUCHING: Compensating consumers for the inconvenience and losses incurred due to power outage is not practised anywhere, Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said.

“Tell me which country does that,” he said to reporters after the adjournment of the state legislative assembly (DUN) sitting here yesterday.

Taib, who is also Resource Planning and Environment Minister, said this when asked to comment on suggestions that Sarawak Energy Berhad be accountable for the inconveniences and losses incurred due to frequent power outage in the state.

He also said that such a situation was bound to happen when the state was undergoing the process of improving and upgrading its energy supply capacity.

He pointed out that the state had started its electricity generation using generators and hydro on a much smaller volume so in the process of intensifying the capacity there were bound to be some unexpected problems to the system.

“You must understand that when we improve (the system) there is also work to be done to upgrade a lot of the existing one. We started with less than 1,000 megawatts before with low quality generators and things that had been built over 30 years ago. So there must be gap in between,” he explained.

Among those who suggested that the utility provider should either compensate or reduce monthly charges to offset losses caused by frequent tripping was the SUPP Youth movement.

In making the call through a media statement recently, the movement’s chief Tan Kai also urged the relevant authority to come up with effective solutions so that the problem can be solved for good.