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We call on the Government to appoint a truly independent consultant to enquire into the January 13 blackout in four states in the Peninsula and to reconsider the decision against offering rebates to 3 million consumers affected by the outage   Media Statement by  Dr Tan Seng Giaw (Kuala Lumpur,  Friday): Yesterday, TNB Chief Executive Officer Datuk Che Khalib Mohamad Nor announced that those who suffered from the outage would not be offered rebates as power to all consumers was restored “well within the guidelines set by the Energy Commission. This makes affected consumers unhappy. Apparently, the commission requires TNB to restore electricity within four hours for minor faults and 12 hours for a major outage. How does the commission arrive at these criteria?  In the Penang blackout in 1995 and the peninsular outage in August 1996, TNB gave rebates of 10%, totaling RMRM74 million. No doubt, it is messy for utility services such as electricity, water and telephone companies to offer rebates for interference with their services.   TNB appoints Advance Power Solutions Sdn Bhd as a consultant to study the January 13 outage. Datuk Che Khalib said that the consultant’s report had been consistent with TNB’s conclusions. On 18 January, 2005, we mentioned in Parliament when the Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Lim KhengYaik stood up to defend his previous ministry (Primary Industries) that the consultant was the former employee of TNB. The minister did not deny it.   We propose that the Government immediately appoint a truly independent consultant to enquire into the January 13 blackout, otherwise the consumers will continue to doubt the TNB explanation. The consultant must be able to stand on his or her own feet.   Datuk Che Khalid pointed to a gas leak in circuit breaker P10 in the switchyard of the Port Klang Power Plant. It was shut off about noon, when usage of electricity was low. The load was transferred to circuit breaker S20. .   The TNB CEO said: “…S20 is supposed to be able to carry the additional load transferred from circuit breaker P10. When the power load was transferred to circuit breaker S20, it tripped due to overloading.”   The public can make neither head nor tail of the inability of TNB to know that S20 could not take the extra load. Why? If TNB knew, why could it not transfer the extra load to a circuit breaker that could do so? (21/1/2005) * Dr Tan Seng Giaw, DAP National Deputy Chairman and MP for Kepong