The blackout that occurred on Jan 13 is a reflection of the sad state of affairs in one the nation's biggest privatised entity.

Since it was listed 15 years ago, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) has had a string of embarrassing incidents that has earned the state-controlled public utility widespread public ire. Within this 15 years, five major blackouts had occurred under Tenaga's watch. The latest to occur was the Black Thursday incident on Jan 13.

While TNB has chosen to view this incident as minor - in view of its success in restoring electricity supply within five hours - the fact remains that within this five-hour period, massive inconvenience was inflicted upon the lives of the ordinary people and the business community.

Whilst it is commendable that electricity was restored within a short time frame, no one can deny the fact that the business sector suffered massive losses arising from this blackout. The oil-refining, chemical and semiconductors industries were among those which were the hardest hit.

Tenaga's official stand thus far is not to accept any liability. Therefore, no compensation will be paid to those who were affected by the blackout. It points that electricity supply was restored to consumers well within the time requirements set by the Energy Commission for power failures.

It appears that Tenaga Nasional's management believes that it is still in the era where it can hide behind the Electricity Supply Act 1990 and escape liability by putting the onus on its customers to prove its negligence in a court of law.

Tenaga Nasional should instead turn over a new leaf and give top priority to the restoration of public confidence in it as a responsible, competent and professional utility corporation. And the first step is to own up to its responsibility for the blackout on Jan 13, to admit liability and to pay compensation.

In view of the gravity of this incident, perhaps it is about time the government consider setting up a Royal Commission to inquire into fundamental causes of the power blackout on Jan 13, the performance, efficiency and competence of Tenaga Nasional Berhad, the quality of its service and the overall national power situation - whether in the production, transmission or distribution of electricity.

The terms of reference for the Royal Commission should include the lessons learnt from previous nationwide blackouts, whether Tenaga had learnt from these and if yes, why there was a recurrence of another blackout.

The Royal Commission should also look into the possibility whether Tenaga is capable of making good its promise to deliver reliable, stable and uninterrupted electricity supply to the masses and if the answer is no, perhaps the time has come to give serious consideration to ending Tenaga's monopoly on the transmission and distribution of electricity.

The country is not short of companies capable of generating, transmitting and distributing electricity. There are currently 36 co-generation licenses that have been issued by the Energy Commission. Currently, co-generation plants are supplying chilled water/refrigeration in Putrajaya, KLCC, KLIA, Cyberjaya and The Curve at Mutiara Damansara.

Co-generation is an efficient way to simultaneously produce utilities such as electricity, heat, steam and chilled water/refrigeration from gas or diesel fuel. Co-generation technology captures and harnesses the heat from the machines and re-channels the energy to generate electricity.

The blackout in Putrajaya and Cyberjaya on Jan 13, for instance, could have been averted if co- generation plants, which are currently supplying chilled water/refrigeration there, were also given the licence to supply electricity as well. No modifications are needed to these plants as they have already been equipped with the necessary equipment to generate electricity.

The granting of electricity supply licences to these co-gen plants could yield enormous advantages, amongst others, security and reliability of supply due to reduced dependence on the national electricity grid, environmental friendly measures through the use of clean gas fuel and more economical benefits due to the higher energy efficiency.

Higher electricity supply availability is also assured due to the higher performance standard guaranteed by these co-gen plants. For instance, the co-gen plants in Cyberjaya have guaranteed that service will be available 99.9 percent per month - a service level which our sole electricity supply corporation can never guarantee.

KLIA escaped the fallout of the January 13 power outage because its electricity supply is generated not by Tenaga but by its own co-generation plant.

Many years ago, William Blake, the British poet, was quoted as saying, 'Energy is eternal delight'. But after their experiences on Jan 13, the people of Malaysia would probably beg to differ.