TUARAN, April 5 ― Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) expects no electricity supply rationing in Sabah ahead of the Hari Raya Aidilfitri festival season.

Chief Executive Officer Datuk Mohd Yaakob Jaafar said the electricity supply system during this festive season is stable and SESB will continue efforts to increase generation capacity to solve the lack of energy supply capacity in Sabah and Labuan.

“I personally conducted a work visit to three rental generator set project sites in Sandakan which are located at Mowtas Main Distribution Substation (PPU), Seguntor PPU and Labuk Power Station.

“The progress status on the site is according to what has been planned. In total, we have six rental generators in Sandakan, Labuan, Lahad Datu and Tawau, which is a short-term solution initiative to the increasing demand of electricity users.

“Pray that all the remaining final completion works can be carried out well and finally the electricity rationing that had to be done before will no longer happen after all the generator sets are fully operational from next May.

“Ahead of this festive season, it is expected that the electricity supply system will be in a stable state and there will be no electricity supply rationing,” he said.

Mohd Yaakob Jaafar said this during the breaking the fast ceremony and presenting the SESB Wakalah Zakat donation at Ubudiyyah Mosque, Tamparuli town on Thursday.

Also present at the event were Tuaran Member of Parliament cum SESB chairman Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau and Rural Development Minister cum Tamparuli assemblyman Datuk Jahid Jahim.

During his speech, Mohd Yaakob also said as much as 12.5 per cent of the zakat amount paid by SESB to the Sabah Islamic Religious Council (MUIS) was returned to SESB in the form of Wakalah Zakat.

Wakalah Zakat is distributed to eligible groups according to the criteria and laws set by the Sabah Islamic Religious Affairs Department.

For the 2020 collection, the total SESB Zakat Wakalah is RM893,036 and in 2021, it is RM938,208.

“Last March 11, SESB submitted business zakat amounting to RM3,029,624 for the year 2022 to MUIS and of the total business zakat payment, RM378,703 was returned to SESB in the form of Wakalah Zakat.

“So far, a total of RM1.8 million in Wakalah Zakat has been distributed by SESB to eligible recipients throughout the state of Sabah and the Federal Territory of Labuan from 2022 to 2024,” he added.

For the record, throughout the month of Ramadan this year, SESB has organised several ceremonies for breaking the fast and giving Wakalah Zakat which started in Bongawan, followed by Ranau, Sandakan, Putatan, Tamparuli and Tuaran. ― The Borneo Post