Tariff rate should be revised – Sabah Electricity

KOTA KINABALU (Oct 25): Sabah Electricity insists that the state’s current average electricity tariff rate of 34 cent per Kilowatt-hour (kWh) should be revised.

When asked to comment whether the rebranding of Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) to Sabah Electricity would be followed with a tariff hike, its chairman, Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau, said it is not up to him to decide but rather, the government and regulators.

“But if you ask Sabah Electricity, we have long been fighting for a tariff revision.

“Because what it means, if our selling price is higher than our cost price, we do not require Federal subsidies anymore.

“And when we do not rely on those subsidies no more, we will be running as a real business, and then you can really see how we deal with things,” he told reporters after officiating the company’s rebranding ceremony at the Employees’ Provident Fund in Sadong Jaya here today.

Sabah Electricity currently operates as a loss, relying on Federal Government subsidies to cover their losses.

Meanwhile, Madius said the Sabah Electricity board has decided to look into implementing a segmented consumer tariff approach in the state, where different areas could be imposed with different tariff rates.

He said the company’s management is currently studying this proposal, which would involve assessing the System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) for each area, as well as the level of service provided.

“However, there are around 13 islands with low socioeconomic status that we are offering lower tariff rates as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility.

“We are grateful for assistance from the Federal Government in this effort as these islands are places where we otherwise could not conduct business, as opposed to metropolitan areas,” he said.

On whether the company will be looking into having the T15 group – which was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the tabling of Budget 2025 in October this year – pay higher electricity tariff rates, he said it is too early for them to indicate anything.

“Let’s not talk about this first, because we also do not understand what is T15,” he said.