Protest over power disconnection
Some 100 villagers from Kampung Bakau, Kampung Sundang Laut and Kampung Batu Sapi Laut in Sandakan held a peaceful protest in front of the Sandakan Municipal Council over their electricity supply disconnec on.
SANDAKAN: Some 100 villagers from Kampung Bakau, Kampung Sundang Laut and Kampung Batu Sapi Laut here held a peaceful protest in front of the Sandakan Municipal Council building in an attempt to bring their problems to the attention of the relevant authorities, yesterday morning.
The villagers have been living without electricity supply for 10 days.
Knowing that local leader Datuk Samsudin Yahya, who is the assemblyman for Sekong would be having a meeting with other local leaders at the building, the villagers decided to raise the matter through a demonstration.
The villagers have been living in the dark for 10 days after electricity supply to their villages was disconnected by a private company in charge of sourcing electricity supply from Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) to their villages.
For reasons not known to the villagers, electricity supply to the three villages is not being supplied directly by SESB.
The villagers pay their bills to a private company, which charge the villagers based on the number of electrical appliances owned per house.
They claimed that they paid RM60 monthly in power bill for one refrigerator and RM30 monthly for one television.
One of the villagers claimed the total electricity bill per month exceeded RM100, which was more than what SESB would have charged.
The situation became worse when the villagers were recently asked to pay a deposit in order for the electricity supply to be reconnected.
The villagers plead for their electricity supply to be supplied directly by SESB, and not handled by a private company.
Arinih Hussin from Kammpung Sundang Laut hoped the local authority would acknowledge their problems and resolve the issue as soon as possible.
“We plead for the relevant authorities to help us get electricity supply directly from SESB.
“We have been living in the dark for ten days. Help us. What happened to all the promises made (by the government)?” he asked.
Meanwhile, Datuk Samsudin Yahya who is also Batu Sapi Umno chief, met the villagers and listened to their problems before going to a meeting to discuss on the issue.
Electricity supply to the villages was reconnected yesterday after Samsudin's discussion on the matter.
On the other hand, SESB issued a statement stating that the villages were categorized as squatter houses and electricity supply to the settlement was cut off on March 1 because it had a total debt of RM250,000.
It stated that an appointed company was in charge to collect the bills while SESB was only to supply electricity to the villages.
According to its general manager (corporate communication), Chendramata Sinteh, the move to cut electricity supply to the company was made after the company had failed to pay debts from September 2016.
“SESB will continue to deal with the company to solve debts on electricity usage from the area,” she said.