SABAH LDP YOUTH CHIEF STATEMENT ON NEW POWER TARIFF

Written by Admin

Monday February 17, 2014

BY: SHAIMON S JUMADI

SANDAKAN:- The new revised electricity tariff by Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) has caused much concern to the people of Sabah. Many households have received their electricity bills for the month of January 2014 seeing an increment of almost 100% from their previous bills.

Such drastic difference is definitely irreconcilable with the new revised tariff published by SESB. It is advisable for SESB to better educate the public pertaining to the calculation of its new revised tariff in order not to cause further anxiety and dissatisfaction among the public, State LDP Youth chief Tsang Hieng Yee said to  the reporter Free Sandakan Today.com yesterday

In any event, it is still my opinion that the increment is too high. It shall be better for SESB to carry out the increment in a more gradual and incremental manner over a longer period of time. A drastic and sudden increment of the rate such as the present one will definitely bring dire consequences to the economy of Sabah, he added.

Tsang said he can already foresee that retailers or service providers may take this opportunity to increase their prices under the guise of covering their now higher overhead. Such indiscriminate and arbitrary rise of prices will start a chain reaction which is capable of further pushing up the living costs of the state. Sabahan will have a more difficult time and lesser spending power, particularly to the lower income group. Something really has to be done in order to prevent such scenario to get worse.

“I believe that by revising the tariff backward a little bit may help. It doesn’t mean that SESB shall not be allowed to increase its rate; it is just that it shall do so in a more gradual and bit by bit manner, so as to give more breathing space to the people. Alternatively, SESB may consider to impose only minimal increment for domestic users with consumption of 500 kWh and below, instead of to the present threshold of 300 kWh and below, because most people who are not of high income may still use electricity up to 500 kWh per month,” he added.

I understand that the recent increment of the tariff seems to be the last resort of SESB in order to counter the ever increasing price of diesel, but surely, instead of imposing sky-high new tariff at the expense of the people, SESB could address such global challenge from another angle, such as be more savvy in terms of its other managerial, administrative and other operative spending, Tsang said.