Tell Your Story

... I mean, Your Engineering Story.

SOME PEOPLE BELIEVE THEY WERE BORN TO BE AN ENGINEER

SOME PEOPLE HAD A DREAM TO BECOME AN ENGINEER

SOME PEOPLE WERE ADVISED TO BE AN ENGINEER

SOME PEOPLE WERE INSPIRED BY AN ENGINEER

SOME PEOPLE ARE AN ENGINEER IN HEART

WHAT IS YOUR ENGINEERING STORY?

This is an initiative by IEM (Sabah) to spice up this year's IEM annual dinner by making "Your Engineering Story" part of the event.

I wanted to append the full PDF brochure but it's not hyperlinked. Here is how you are going to do it:

This competition is called "My Engineering Story" and the chosen stories will be published in the IEM Sabah website and printed in the annual dinner souvenir book.

Objective: To collect amazing, inspiring real life stories and hence, motivate more people to love engineering. To provide a platform to all engineers to share their passion towards their living and loving in engineering. [Note: These are words from IEM. Interpret at your own pleasure.]

Simple rules:
1) The competition is divided into two categories, i.e. a) Students, and b) Engineers,
2) Three (3) winners will be selected from each category,
3) Each of the winners will receive RM500 cash.

Include the followings in your submission:
1) Full name, field of engineering, company name, phone number, and email address
2) Your "My Engineering Story" in word file.
3) Your story must be within 400 to 500 words.
4) Your photo or photo related to your story.


So, hit that keyboard of your computer and start writing.

Submit your article by 1st October 2011 to iemyessabah@gmail.com

IEM Sabah Branch can also be reached at Tel: 088-259122 (2 lines) Fax : 088-236749

Power tariff restructuring - Some win, some lose, and some are losing big time

The sweeping statement by SESB regarding the recent tariff rate increase is somewhat misleading, and to some extent disappointing even if one can understand the justification for the restructuring.


Granted, the more-or-less 75% domestic consumers are safeguarded. Some 70,500 consumers even get kind of pleasant surprise as a result of the exercise, they stand to pay less than the amount they are currently paying.

Those who are currently paying a monthly bill of RM20.00 and below continue to enjoy the rebate from the government. In other words they enjoy electricity for free until further notice.

The electricity supply provider, however, FAILED to mention the painful fact that there would be certain consumers (especially Commercial and Industrial sectors) that would suffer an increase of as high as 45% in energy cost. Now that's what I call HUGE jump! I have few case studies and this is exactly what I found out.

Few weeks ago I found myself in the wrong place at the right time to be sitting among journalists in a press conference. During the briefing, SESB's Managing Director, Datuk Ir. Baharin Din explained that:

The cost of producing 1 (one) unit of electricity in Sabah is -

75.54 cent - without subsidy on gas by Petronas, and
44.60 cent - without government subsidy on fuel.
31.69 cent - WITH govt subsidy.

How much does SESB charge consumers for each unit of electricity? That's 29.25 cent on average. From every angle one look at it, it is a losing business model. But, should it be that way?

Ir. Baharin further explained that even with the revision of tariff rates, the utility company is still not making money yet and it still need the assistance from the government to keep going.



Ir. Baharin Din explaining the tariff restructuring to journalist


In the water industry there is a term Non-Revenue Water (NRW) to denote water that is lost between point of production and the consumer's tap. Sabah's NRW is currently among the highest in Malaysia. Let's not let SESB fall in the same pit as the Water supply. I recon that SESB's immediate challenge is the non-revenue electricity (if I can call it that) in the form of, or due to

• power theft


• equipment/cable theft


• frequent power outage


• ageing equipment


• human resource restructuring

While calling for human resource restructuring may not be justified (and it may not even be an issue), the first four are factual. In fact, if one compares SESB's situation to SESCO and TNB, it is still lagging behind in terms of managing the above.


Table 1: Summary of the impact of SESB electricity tariff revision on consumers.


I mentioned earlier that some consumers (such as industry players) are affected by increase of power cost by more than 40%. The following is a typical scenario:

EXAMPLE
Company XYZ is taking supply at low voltage and is consuming 320,000 kWh of energy every month with Maximum Demand of 500kW.

Prior to July 15, 2011 Company XYZ would be categorised under Tariff ID2:
MaxDemand - RM7,500.00 (500 x RM15.00)
Energy Usage - RM64,000.00 (320,000 x RM0.20)
TOTAL MONTHLY: RM71,500.00

After July 15, 2011 Company XYZ is re-classified to Tariff ID1 (due to new criteria):
MaxDemand - none (no M.Demand charges)
Energy Usage - RM102,400 (320,000 x RM0.32)
TOTAL MONTHLY: RM102,400.00

Increase = RM30,900.00 or 43.2%

That is RM370,800 annually. Maybe the boss would think twice now about giving out bonus this year end. Sadly, this could be true for many enterprises.

The bigger industrial consumers do have associations of their own. They should bring their issues up to SESB through special meeting and or dialogue.

For your reference, check out the new rates you are paying in New Tariff Book. If the link is not working or is slow in downloading, check the simplified table here.

Buy 5-Star Appliances and get some Rebates for yourself

I recall my previous post in June 2011, titled It Pays to Go Green and very little information was available about the SAVE program back then.

I know this piece of info has since been updated by by the government for a while now but I'll mention it here anyway. 

The RM200 rebate for refrigerators and RM100 for air-conditioners is currently on going on a first-come-first-served basis.

If you are currently living in Sabah, the quota is 3,670 units (refrigerator) and 3,946 units (air-con). The biggest beneficiaries are those living in Selangor (17,315 and 11,601 units respectively). Not that many but if you are an early bird chances are you will benefit from this initiative.


HOW DO I QUALIFY?

This is the excerpt from a lengthy PDF document produced by the ministry. To qualify, the applicant must be:

i) a Malaysian, and
ii) a domestic electricity user. That's all!

a) Refrigerators:

• Peninsular Malaysia – domestic consumers using an average of 6 months electricity consumption between 200 to 400 kWh per month

• Sabah and Sarawak - open to all domestic consumers

b) Air conditioners – open to all domestic consumers in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.


You are entitled to the rebate only once for each appliance, and this is valid for purchase of 5-Star refrigerators and air conditioners approved by Energy Commission. So, look out for the following labels:



If RM200 is not of an issue to you (it is to me), than this is obviously not for you but please help me and our mother earth to spread the news. Energy efficient equipment use less energy to produce the same level of comfort and they definitely leave less carbon footprint.

For complete list of appliances (Brands) that qualify for the rebate, visit EE Appliance Listing. The recommended retail prices are quite competitive.

To view the detailed information on the SAVE program and how you can claim your rebate, take a look at the ministry's SAVE Program Guidelines For Consumers.

Buy 5-Star aircon/fridge, save some money + pay less monthly utility bill = help mother earth survive another day.


Happy Saving!