DAP today urged Tenaga Nasional Bhd to speedily and appropriately compensate those affected by the power failure which hit central and southern Malaysia for several hours.

In a letter to TNB chief executive officer (CEO) Che Khalib Mohamad Noh today, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the utility giant should act swiftly and not be bogged down by claims procedures.

"The latest massive blackout has caused major inconveniences and financial losses to consumers as well as severely affected the country's image internationally, especially with foreign investors," he said.

The letter, a copy of which was made available to malaysiakini , urged TNB to make payments to "any of the one million consumers who suffered losses".

During a major power outage in 1996, TNB had compensated its 4.2 mil costumers by awarding a 10 percent rebate on electricity bills for December that year and January 1997.

However, Lim warned the government-linked-company against a similar compensation scheme as it would be insufficient this time round.

"Tens of millions of ringgit in losses have been incurred and the 10 percent rebate given during the nationwide blackout in 1996 will be unacceptable as it would be insignificant compared to the losses suffered," he said in the letter.

Full compensation

Contacted later, Lim said TNB "should also compensate fully, those who can prove their exact losses" if the company is considering reintroducing the rebate solution.

He said that it was only appropriate for the Energy, Water and Communications Minister Lim Keng Yaik to have stated that TNB should compensate affected customers.

It has been reported that numerous companies in various industries have revealed incurring losses - both in production costs and lost opportunities - due to the incident but have yet to release exact figures.

A frozen foods importer estimated that his company's losses could reach up to RM3 million. Several large factories in Johor had reported damages to its equipments.

TNB's board of directors - headed by former energy, water and communications minister Amar Leo Moggie - are meeting today to discuss on whether to pay the compensations.

Moggie is also said to be meeting the prime minister in his office in Putrajaya this afternoon.

Recurring problem

Yesterday's power outage - the fifth major blackout in 12 years - occurred at 12.16pm. Power was restored in stages to various parts of Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan and Johor.

TNB later said power was restored to all affected areas late yesterday evening.

The power cut had also brought traffic to standstill, especially in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, after traffic lights failed to work.

Train services - carrying tens of thousand of commuters - such as the Light Rail Transit (LRT) system, Keretapi Tanah Melayu(KTM), Express Rail Link (ERL) and the intra-city monorail system were all halted temporarily.

The commuters - made up of the city's lunch-hour crowd, travellers heading to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, students and others - were stranded en route and at stations, some close to five hours.

"Such frequency of breakdowns over 12 years (most recent being in 2003) does not inspire confidence among consumers in TNB," said Lim.

Disappointed manufacturers

His sentiments were echoed by the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) in a press statement today which expressed their disappointment with the power failure.

"FMM is particularly disappointed with the poor response time taken to address the situation and the delay in re-routing additional load from other stations to the affected states," the statement read.

TNB has attributed the power failure to a technical glitch at its Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz sub-station in Kapar, Selangor where power conduits - one on operation and one on standby - had failed.

"While we recognise that problems could occur, repeated major power failures adversely affects business confidence and the utility company's credibility, particularly in terms of competency to ensure effective maintenance, close monitoring and timely response to emergencies," FMM added.

The country's largest private sector economic organisation representing over 2,000 companies, also said it had consistently reiterated TNB's need to put into place effective preventive measures.

FMM's assertions that TNB was slow to react contradicts the utility company's and the government's claims that the problem had been addressed speedily.

In a related development, financial daily The Edge suggested that TNB's hopes for tariff hikes were hampered by the massive outage.

It quoted analysts saying this in response to the company's earlier claimed plans to seek government approval for a minimum five percent rise in power prices to boost profits amid rising fuel costs.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - who was affected by the power failure while attending a conference in Melaka - had said that TNB must ensure that such incidents do not recur.