S’wak expected to supply Sabah with electricity by 2024

KUCHING: Sarawak is expected to supply electricity to Sabah by the year 2024, said Utility and Telecommunication Minister Datuk Julaihi Narawi.

He said at the moment, the electricity supply project to the neighbouring state is still in the commercial negotiation stage.

“The electricity supply of 30MW to Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd is targeted for 2024 depending on the completion of the Northern Grid Extension Project,” he said in his ministerial winding up speech at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) si ing yesterday.

Julaihi said the amount of energy to be exported involved only two per cent of the existing capacity available, which is 5,996MW.

“For the record, the current electricity consumption in Sarawak is 4,398MW. This means that we still have a balance of 1,478MW, which is sufficient for domestic use and needs, including the connection under the Additional Late Applicant Fund (Alaf) Scheme,” he said.

He added that the tariff charged on this exported energy was higher than the tariff for local consumption.

The Ministry of Utility and Telecommunication, through Sarawak Energy, has been supplying electricity to Kalimantan since 2016 with the average demand at 89.6MW up till September 2022.

On Alaf, Julaihi said the scheme has benefi ed 771 villages involving 10,027 households.

“To date, there are an estimated 25,000 applicants throughout Sarawak who still need electricity installation through the Alaf Scheme and applications will be implemented continuously and in stages,” he said.

He also said his ministry had organised an Alaf project workshop in July this year to speed up the implementation of these projects in the state.

“As a result of the workshop, we have made improvements to the Alaf project implementation procedures and processes including the preparation of a specific programme to increase the number of ‘Competent Persons’ in electrical installation.

“This initiative will be made continuously to increase the number of Competent Persons as well as the number of contractors required to implement the Alaf project,” he said.