KUALA LUMPUR: The process of due diligence on Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) has been completed, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (Mestecc) Minister Yeo Bee Yin said the Cabinet has approved the ownership of SESB to be handed to the state government.
“I discussed the matter with Sabah chief minister (Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal) last week and he informed me that the state government had completed the due diligence process.
“I will attend another meeting with the CM to review the report for the due diligence on Nov 11 in Kota Kinabalu and will be able to provide more details on the matter later,” she said in her winding up speech on the 2020 Budget, here, today.
It was reported that SESB, of which TNB owns 82.75 per cent, while the state government holds the remaining stake, was facing insolvency as it continued to record losses.
Earlier, Yeo said the Net Energy Metering (NEM) scheme, which was introduced in October last year, would be implemented in Sabah next year.
The NEM programme is a solar photovoltaic (PV) initiative to encourage Malaysia’s renewable energy usage, of which energy produced from the installed solar PV system will be consumed first, and any excess is exported to Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) on a “one-on-one” offset basis.
Yeo said the scheme is applicable to all TNB account holders in the domestic, commercial, industrial and agricultural sectors.
“During a post-cabinet meeting recently, we decided to approve a 50 megawatts (MW) quota and RM13 million allocation in Sabah for the next 10 years.
“The funding would be sourced from the Electricity Supplies Industry Trust Account (AAIBE).
“We will start in January 2020. I hope Sabah members of parliament could convey the news to operators and consumers in the state,” she said.
She said there were currently 3.2 million landed properties, 450,000 shophouses, 90,000 terrace factories, 21,000 stand-alone factories and some 1,000 shopping complexes in Malaysia.
It was reported that the programme has seen growth since its introduction in last year, with 38 MW taken up out of the 500 MW allocated.
