Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin said the process will start with the setting up of two task force teams.
While the financial task force will have representatives from the finance ministry and Sabah government, the technical task force includes representatives from her ministry as well as the Sabah government, Yeo said after a meeting with Chief Minister Shafie Apdal today.
“Currently, the process is at the discussion stage and we hope that in the end, the exercise would mean better services to the people.
“My hope is we will manage to come up with a win-win deal between the state and the federal governments this year,” she said.
Yeo said the whole process could take up to two years to complete.
While the negotiations are taking place, the federal government will continue to improve the quality of the power industry and electricity supply in Sabah.
In terms of electricity tariffs, she said the government had agreed not to increase power tariffs in Sabah this year.
She said the federal government, besides returning SESB to Sabah, is looking forward to ensuring the sustainability of the utility company.
Among the issues to be discussed are the assets and liabilities of the SESB and the entire system of power supply, including the generation, transmission and distribution of power in Sabah, she said.
“Today, in the meeting with Shafie, I informed him of the decision. The task force would be formalised as soon as the Sabah government gives us its formal reply. Then we will appoint the members of the task force teams.”
She said Shafie was pleased with the federal government’s decision and said Sabahans will benefit from the deal.
Apart from that, Yeo said her ministry was also looking at the possibility of setting up a separate Energy Commission(EC) for Sabah to regulate power in the state.
She said this was because the Sabah government should have the right to plan the state’s power facilities. Currently, power planning is done by Putrajaya.
“There are many technical issues that need to be addressed, including capacity building and EC regulations, but all of that will be discussed within the technical task force,” she said.
Currently, SESB’s main stakeholders are Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), with 80% of the shares, while the Sabah government holds the remaining 20% shares.