SABAH opposition leaders have taken to task Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Maximus Ongkili for failing to save Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) from bankruptcy.

They said SESB being on the verge of insolvency showed the failure of the “federalisation” and “privatisation” of the state’s power-generation rights.

State DAP secretary Chan Foong Hin said ongoing talks to decide on the future of the utility firm might just be ploy to raise the power tariff further.

He said Ongkili, a Sabahan, was not being fully honest about SESB’s financial burden.

“Is it just due to expensive fuel sources? Or is it because of the high price set by independent power producers (IPPs) to SESB?

“Talk of bankruptcy only proves that the centralisation and privatisation of SESB is a failure.”

Yesterday, Ongkili said SESB was on the verge of bankruptcy, and that its future now hung on the decision of his ministry, the Finance Ministry and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).

He said the average tariff was 34.52 sen/kwh, while the cost of generation was 56.50 sen/kwh, leaving the federal government to subsidise the difference in the cost of fuel, namely diesel, medium fuel oil and gas.

SESB has called for a tariff revision since the last review in 2014.

The firm was privatised in 1998 in the wake of the Asian financial crisis, following Sabah’s handover of state rights on power generation to the federal government in 1984.

The company employs more than 2,600 personnel in Sabah. TNB holds a 82.75% stake in SESB, with the state government holding the remainder.

Parti Warisan Sabah deputy president Darell Leiking said the state government should step in to negotiate with TNB as there were fears that the federal government might sell the firm to foreigners.

“What I fear most is that SESB may end up being sold to foreigners, as had happened with Sabah Forest Industries.

“This is not impossible because if Najib Razak never hesitated to sell Proton, what more SESB?”

He said if this happened, there was no telling what would happen to the thousands of Sabahans employed by SESB, the thousands more who depended on contracts given by SESB and those hired by IPPs.

“If Warisan forms the new government, we will demand the return of SESB to the state.

“If it is a loss-making firm, it would not be a problem for TNB and SESB to buy over the firm’s stake.” – December 23, 2017.