KUCHING, April 15 — State-owned power supplier Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) today put the blame for some power supply trips in the rural areas on wild animals, especially monkeys, perching on the powerlines.

Its vice-president for distribution Yusri Safri said since January this year, SEB’s central region covering Sibu and its surrounding areas has recorded 19 cases of wild animals perching on the powerlines.

He said customers in Mukah, Dalat, Matu, Bintangor and Sarikei have experienced outages as a result of this “unique factor.”

He added disturbance caused by wildlife is one of the challenges faced by the company’s operations team in rural areas and the interior.

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“While we can immediately deploy a technical team to restore supply to our customers after a tripping incident, it is unfortunate to see many of these animals electrocuted by the high voltage,” he said in a statement.

Yusri said, on March 30 this year, customers in Dalat and parts of Judan in Mukah Division experienced a power interruption at about 12.48pm.

“The technical team traced the source of the problem to an electrocuted monkey when they found its carcass on one of the power poles,” he said.

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He added that on March 27 at about 6pm, a troop of monkeys perching on the high-voltage overhead lines of Matu-Daro in Mukah Division also caused a power interruption affecting supply to villages in the area.

He said about 1,100 customers in Kampung Tian, Kampung Berjaya, Kampung Sekaan Kechil, Kampung Sekaan Besar, Matu Bazaar, Kampung Sok and Kampung Jemoreng were affected.

He said power supply to the affected areas was fully restored after about 20 minutes, at about 6.18pm.

He said SEB is looking into ways to mitigate the situation including changing from bare conductors to covered conductors, but this will be carried out in phases.

“This will reduce animal-related outage incidents and is also a sustainable approach to wildlife management in these areas,” he explained.

He added that before a line is re-energised, the technical team needs to patrol the affected lines to ensure all safety precautions are considered, which includes the possibility of fallen lines or poles along the stretch.

“It is our responsibility to ensure the safety of everyone near our electrical facilities and we take this very seriously.

“For longer overhead lines, it might take some time to patrol, especially when it happens at night, under extreme weather or areas with difficult terrain.

“I hope customers can understand the challenges we face. Nevertheless, we are still committed to doing our best to minimise the interruption time,” assured Yusri.