NEWS & UPDATES

KUCHING
4 NOVEMBER 2020

Stormy weather with strong winds and heavy rain uprooted trees and damaged electrical poles, causing the recent power outages in Simunjan and Saratok. These outages affected customers near Simpang Simunjan and Punda, as well as Kabong, Ulu Krian, Ulu Awik, Kemidan, Temudok, Bajau, Ng Assam, Maludam and surrounding areas in Saratok.

Sarawak Energy Regional Manager for Western Region, Choo Min Chong said, “Outages in these two districts are commonly caused by strong winds and heavy rain especially during the wet monsoon season. During this period, we have increased our line patrols and identified areas susceptible to supply interruptions to enable us to act swiftly. Poor weather conditions will also hamper restoration efforts especially if the situation becomes unsafe for work to proceed,” said Choo.

Choo also said that customers are more understanding today and becoming more proactive in reporting outages through Sarawak Energy Customer Care Centre hotline or the “SEB cares” mobile application.

“These early reports have contributed to the quick restoration of supply in most cases. We encourage them to continue using these two platforms to report on outages,” Choo added.

To mitigate the frequency of outages in Simunjan, Sarawak Energy is seeking the cooperation of fruit orchard owners for better vegetation management, as some of the trees are located too close to electrical facilities.

Several “Unsafe Condition” letters have been issued to the orchard owners and engagements were held to educate them on electrical safety.

At the same time, Sarawak Energy is also looking into electrical load splitting from Munggu Lalang 33/11kV Substation to Simpang Simunjan to enhance electricity supply reliability in the area. The power utility is also in the process of diverting power supply from Balai Ringin to Lachau, which is expected to be completed by December this year.

In Saratok, Sarawak Energy is in the final construction stage for the line diversion from 275kV Engkilili Substation to 275kV Serudit Substation, which is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2021.

Other plans to reduce outages and enhance supply reliability in the areas include utilising the Remote Monitoring System to enable quicker response to outages and to minimise losses and inconveniences to customers during an outage.

“We apologise for the inconvenience caused. We assure our customers that we will make every effort to restore supply safely as soon as possible. During restoration works, some customers may experience intermittent supply interruptions due to system normalisation. This is to ensure that the supply is safe for the line and also to the customers,” Choo added.

The public is advised to contact Sarawak Energy Customer Care Centre at 1300-88-3111, email at customercare@sarawakenergy.com or utilise Sarawak Energy mobile app “SEB cares” which can be downloaded from Google Play Store as well as the iOS’ App Store, to report any outages, assist in speedy restoration of electricity supply and to get latest updates from the utility company.

Fallen trees and broken electrical poles due to strong winds and poor weather conditions