NEWS & UPDATES

KUCHING, 9 JANUARY 2019, Wednesday: Third party excavation works led to power interruptions on the evening of 2^nd January, leaving residents in Permyjaya and surrounding areas without electricity supply for a few hours.

Sarawak Energy Northern Region Manager Tan Joo Kok said the latest third party excavation incident had damaged underground cables near the Tudan Substation causing power trips at about 8pm and another one two hours later.

 “In the incident, power was restored in stages with the first area restored within half an hour. However, it tripped again, and restoration works took longer due to the extensive damage on the cable. The delay in the restoration was also due to the wide affected areas. We truly regret the inconvenience caused to our customers,” Tan said.

Areas affected included Desa Indah 1, Desa Indah 2, Desa Pujut 1, Desa Pujut 2, SMK Merbau, Tudan Public Housing No.1, Tudan Public Housing No. 2 and surrounding areas.

 “Once we had located the fault, our maintenance team worked on restoring power in stages with full restoration at 12.30 midnight,” he continued, adding that the maintenance team also kept the residents informed of the situation on that day.

"We will continue to patrol construction sites frequently to inform workers to contact us before starting any excavation works near the cable markers.  We will also continue to distribute pamphlets on "Call before you dig" to ensure safe excavation works to the construction workers at site as well as the surrounding communities," Tan added.

To-date, 39 excavation cases have been recorded as causing cable damage in Miri since 2016, with a combined cost of about RM400,000. State-wide, 293 cases have been recorded over the same period amounting to RM1.93 million in damage.

Tan also said to improve reliability to the area, Sarawak Energy is spending RM1million this year to lay a new 33kV cable linking New Eastwood to Permyjaya as an additional feeder to the area to add to the seven feeders currently supplying power to the area. The new feeder is expected to be ready by the end of this year. 

“While waiting for this new cable to be ready, we are closely monitoring the supply and taking even stronger measures to reduce the risk of interruption caused by excavation works. There are many ongoing constructions works around the Permyjaya area and we hope that the contractors and their workers will give us their full cooperation to minimise the inconvenience caused to the people of Miri,” he added.

Sarawak Energy also reminds the public to call its Customer Care Centre at 1300 88 3111, if they come across any damaged cables or facilities. 

Maintenance team doing repair works at the site of the damaged cable in Permyjaya