Sabah Electricity


Sabah Electricity Sdn. Bhd. is a Malaysian electrical company that generates, transmits and distributes electricity mainly in the state of Sabah and the Federal Territory of Labuan. It supplies electrical power to 413,983 customers distributed over a wide area of 74,000 km2. 82.8% of the customers are domestic customers consuming only 28.8% of the power generated. This company employs more than 2,300 employees and the main stakeholders of this company are Tenaga Nasional Berhad and Sabah State Government.

History

Electricity started in Sabah as early as 1910 supplied by 3 separate organisations. In 1957 these three organisations combined to form North Borneo Electricity Board. Upon the formation of Malaysia in 1963, it was renamed Sabah Electricity Board. On 1 September 1998, Sabah Electricity Board was privatised and became Sabah Electricity Sdn. Bhd.

Generation capacity

The total generation capacity of SESB is 866.4 MW, 50.3% of the total units generated are purchased from the independent power producers.
The SESB installed capacity of the Sabah Grid which supplies electricity for major towns from Federal Territory Labuan to Tawau is 430.9 MW and the maximum demand is 760 MW.
The East Coast Grid 132kV Transmission Line connecting the major towns in the East Coast has an installed capacity of 333.02MW and the maximum demand is 203.3MW.
The forecast demand growth of electricity is in a region of 7.7% per annum up to the year 2010 and the electricity demand is expected to reach 1,500 MW by the year 2020. To support the growing demand, various generation, transmission and distribution projects will be implemented.
A fully integrated grid connecting the West Coast Grid to the East Coast Grid was completed on 28 July 2007, and about 90% of the customers are now connected to this integrated grid.

Power generation plants

The summary of the list of power plants as follows:

Major power stations

Installed capacity by plant type

The interconnected system comprises West Coast Power grid and East Coast Power Grid. The transmission circuit length as in December 2007:

Overhead lines

Underground cable

Submarine cable

Main intake substation

Power distribution

Distribution system capacity as in August 2009:
VoltageLine length Number of transformers
11 kV7,421.75588
22 kV260.0119
33 kV772.950

Electrical consumption

SectorConsumption Percentage
Domestic1,167.1131%
Commercial1,440.5539%
Industrial1,072.7529%
Public lighting46.591%