State cabinet must answer the people on power tariff hike

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) said the whole Sabah Cabinet must answer the people why they agreed to the electricity tariff hike by Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) through Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) which started last month which has caused unhappiness among the public.

Information Chief, Chong Pit Fah said SAPP was also curious why it was taking TNB and SESB a long time to reply to the memorandum submitted by the party's youth wing on July 15 at Wisma SESB and in Sandakan a day before urging the utility company to explain and reconsider the decision.
"SAPP takes the matter seriously because it affects all walks of life in our society from businessmen to housewives, now having to dig deeper into their pockets," he said amid numerous complaints from the public.

Chong said the State Cabinet ministers are insensitive and they do not feel the hardship of the common people because their electricity bills are paid for by the government.

He said businessmen were saying they now having to pay double for power supply and the ones who are paying for the extra production cost would be the end users and ordinary people such as housewives.

"SAPP received complaints from housewives that prior to the electricity tariff hike they have already been getting headaches as prices of goods like sugar among others had already increased. Now, they said they are also having to spend more for the extra cost incurred by businesses," he said.

In this respect, Chong said TNB and SESB must also respond immediately to SAPP's memorandum, which represented the reflected the voice of the people in Sabah.

Chong said SAPP Wanita Chief, Melanie Chia had also stated earlier that there was no reason to revise electricity tariff in Sabah, more so when Sabah is a major producer of gas in the country.

"In fact, since Sabah is a major gas producer in the country, its people should be enjoying the lowest electricity tariff," said Chong.

He said SAPP Tawau MP Datuk Chua Soon Bui had also questioned that the tariff increase in Sabah could be related to the lopsided deal signed with Independent Power Producers (IPP), particularly in those in Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau.

Chua had said that the government's failure to disclose the nature of the contracts had raised more suspicion and the public to question the justification for the recent power tariff hike in Sabah where electricity supply is already limited.

Chua who is SAPP vice president had described the contracts with IPPs as tantamount to "robbing the poor to enrich the privileged few".

It is understood that there are two types of payments - capacity payment and the energy payment, which is guaranteed for 21 years based on the IPP's construction cost.

The higher the construction costs, the higher is the capacity payment, which is to be paid by TNB/SESB in Sabah to the IPPs regardless of whether the plant is producing or not.

The IPPs were paid based on the Equivalent Availability Factor (EAF) on its monthly testing. As for the capacity payment, as long as IPPs are on standby, SESB or TNB is obligated for full payments on the capacities of the plants every month based on the tested EAF, and not based on the consumed amount.

SAPP said the system ensured all IPPs in the country reaping annual profits in the millions with consumers footing the bill.

In this respect, Chong said the State Government, particularly the cabinet members must give their answers for the reason they allowed the move, which was only causing hardship to the people in Sabah.

He said Industrial Development Minister Datuk Raymond Tan should also explain to the people for his about turn on the power tariff hike issue.

He said Tan had also insulted the intelligence of the people of Sabah by saying that the hike will not affect the ordinary people.

"In this age are there still people who are using firewood to cook and light up their night? ... maybe in the remote areas but majority of the people are using electricity.

"SAPP feels that Tan is no longer qualified to become a minister and leader representing the people," he said.

SAPP also took Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai to task who is a Deputy Chief Minister representing the Chinese community in Sabah for keeping quiet over the matter.

"He is supposed to represent the Chinese community in Sabah but he is keeping quite. He should know that most of the business community affected by the electricity tariff hike are Chinese businessmen," said Chong.