ELECTRICITY BILLS SHOULD BE CHEAPER?

By: DAP MEDIA

IN Sabah, the Local Councils and even DBKK are charged with the same tariff on the electricity consumed to provide street lighting and other public services and utilities.

Dr. Hiew King Cheu, the Member of Parliament for Kota Kinabalu requested the Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water, Datuk Chin Fah Kui to consider and allow the Local Councils and DBKK in Sabah to pay a much lower electricity rate for the sack of public interest.

Dr. Hiew said the Sabah Local Councils and DBKK are serving the people and the people are paying for the electricity usage through their taxes and assessments. He said the SESB should not charge the same rate to the Local councils and DBKK, because of the many public services are involved.

The electricity used on the street lights in KK alone is huge, and this amount can be something like million riggits in a year for DBKK to shoulder. We need the street lights in KK, Sandakan, Tawau, Lahad Datu and many other major towns.

This is for the benefit and safety of the people especially in terms of avoiding the crimes, accidents among other inconveniences. The parks, streets, children play grounds, housing estates and even basket ball courts are very dark at night, and how can we achieve a ‘safe place to live in’ with ‘No crime’? In Sabah, we still have many streets without lighting, and it is inviting crimes and accident.

The roads without lights are dangerous to motorist and accidents frequently occurred especially in rainy nights. When this situation is compared to Semenanjong, their roads and highways are lighted like in daylight, while our roads in Sabah are so very dark. It is a fact that every one noticed.

Dr. Hiew also said that the money saved by the Local Councils and DBKK on electricity bills can be put into other good use to install more streets lights and provide other additional and needed facilities for the good and benefits of the people.

He hopes the Ministry of Energy and Datuk Chin Fah Kui can work with the SESB to allow the Local councils and DBKK to have a much lower rate on the electricity bills to benefit the people. The public interest must be put in with more emphasis.