A THREE-HOUR power outage in the Klang Valley today left businesses paralysed and led to losses, industry experts said.

They suggested that given the frequency and length of the disruptions, power supplier Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) should consider giving businesses and industries automatic discounts on their bills.

SME Association of Malaysia president Ding Hong Sing said food manufacturers suffered the most as they were in the middle of production when the power went off.

Ding elaborated that for every outage, businesses lost raw ingredients and profits that could be used to pay salaries. 

These losses were all borne by the business owners, he added.

“Even if TNB gives us a discount, it won’t make up for our losses; it merely reduces costs,” Ding told The Malaysian Insight.

“TNB should give us discounts automatically. SMEs have faced severe losses since the pandemic.”

The Malaysia Shopping Malls Association president Teo Chiang Kok said malls too suffered losses every time there was a blackout.

However, he was unsure of the value of these losses.

“It depends on the duration, whether it happened during peak hours, and other factors,” Teo said.

TNB has never given discounts whenever there is a power outage, he added.

Soh Thian Lai, president of the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers said it was still unclear how much losses manufacturers suffered in the three hours.

“I haven’t received any complaints from our members,” Soh said.

Electronic factories that operate for 24 hours will however be affected, he added.

Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association president Wong Siew Hai said they too have not received complaints.

Cafes and restaurants affected

For F&B operator DAY 9 Kitchen Cafe in Seri Kembangan, the outage meant it was unable to serve drinks and food.

“Some customers came for coffee, but they left after seeing the situation,” the cafe’s head, Chan said.

“Some called in advance to check. In such circumstances, we lose customers.”

Chan was also worried that food stored in the refrigerators would go bad, and the café had even planned to close earlier at 3pm.

“But the power was restored, so we continued operating. If the outage was for more than two days, we would suffer huge losses.”

Eva Lee, head of Bookmark Coffee in Cheras said they were not able to take orders electronically due to the blackout.

“We had to write down each order. At the same time, online transactions for credit card and debit card were also offline. So, customers had to pay cash.

“The non-functioning fans and air-conditioning also meant customers did not want to come,” Lee said.

Meanwhile, gold shop owner Lee Mun Fong said the sudden blackout left customers who were in the store disoriented.

“We were worried that the dark atmosphere would cause confusion, so we quickly put away all the gold on display,” Lee said.

Power was fully restored to all affected areas at 3.02pm after the sudden disruption of services in various places nationwide.

In a statement, TNB said the affected areas received full electric supply in stages after the disruption at about 12.39pm.

Earlier today, it was reported that several areas in the Klang Valley and a few states in the peninsula were hit by power outages due to damage of a TNB substation in Johor.

According to complaints by Internet users, the affected areas in the Klang Valley were Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, Bangi, Selayang, Cheras and Bandar Sunway.

Blackouts were also reported in Kedah, Pahang, Negri Sembilan, Perak, and Penang.

In a follow-up statement, TNB gave assurance that the electricity supply in the country was stable and reliable where interruptions could be restored almost immediately. – July 27, 2022.