KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) is still under the regulation of the Energy Commission at the federal level.
In a statement, its chief executive officer Mohd Yaakob Jaafar said that it is because Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) is still the biggest shareholder in the ownership of the state utility.
"It has not been taken over by the Sabah State Government, which owns 17 percent of the shares in SESB.
"Only the regulatory authority over the management of the electric power industry in the state of Sabah has been returned to the Sabah State Government through the establishment of the Sabah Energy Commission (ECoS).
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Mohd Yaakob added that the takeover of regulatory control over the electricity supply by the Sabah State Government is in line with various related initiatives that have been planned and implemented, enabling the state government to be directly involved in the activities of the gas and oil industry for the benefit of the people of Sabah.
Meanwhile, in a separate statement, SESB chairman Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau said he is hoping that full autonomy on electricity matters by making SESB as a wholly Sabah owned utility company through the purchasing of remaining shares.
The former deputy chief minister also highlighted the challenges that Sabah would need to address, including the current dependency on the federal government's million-ringgit subsidies and the losing business model of SESB.
"SESB is technically bankrupt, considering that the selling price of electricity to consumers is lower at RM0.34 compared to the purchase or generation cost of RM0.43 per unit of electricity.
"In other words, SESB incurs a loss of nearly RM0.10 per unit of electricity sold to consumers.
"To cover this loss, the federal government provides subsidies, with around RM800 million in subsidies allocated to SESB just last year."