Snake causes blackout in two areas near Kuching

KUCHING: A snake caused a blackout affecting the Batu Kawa and MJC areas here on Tuesday (March 11) night,

According to Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB), the outage occurred after a snake made contact with the electrical equipment at the Batu Kawa-Malihah junction.

“The incident occurred at 8.31pm during heavy rain in Kuching. Upon receiving reports, Syarikat Sesco Bhd’s (SEB’s operations arm) technical team responded immediately to restore supply safely and efficiently despite adverse weather conditions,” SEB said in a statement on Thursday (March 13).

It said power was fully restored by 10.45pm the same day.

However, SEB said subsequent equipment faults caused another outage at Riccarton Avenue, Moyan Mall, Batu Kawa Commercial Centre, Batu Kawa New Bazaar, and Rantau Panjang, before supply was fully restored at 11.39pm.

“Our priority was to restore power as safely and quickly as possible. We appreciate our customers’ patience and understanding as our team worked under challenging conditions to complete the restoration,” SEB western regional manager Effendy Syaiful Abdullah said in the statement.

SEB also said Sarawak’s extensive transmission and distribution network runs through varied terrain, including forests, farms and plantations, increasing the risk of wildlife-related disruption.

It said Sesco continued to address this through enhanced infrastructure protection measures and ongoing system improvements.

The public can report power outages or wildlife sightings near SEB facilities by calling the customer care centre at 1300-88-3111, emailing customercare@sarawakenergy.com, chatting with SEB’s virtual agent Carina, or through the SEB Cares mobile app and web portal.