Over 1,000 hauled to court for electricity theft in Sabah, Labuan

KOTA KINABALU: A total of 1,340 consumers have been hauled up to court for offences involving tampering with electricity meters and illegal power connections so far this year.

Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) chief transformation officer Ahmad Nassaruddin Kamaruzaman said those charged comprise 1,191 domestic consumers, 148 commercial users and one industrial consumer in the state and Labuan.

He said electricity meter tampering and illegal power connections have cost SESB some RM5mil this year.

The action against the offenders, he said, were taken between January and October.

“The Energy Commission is also in the midst of taking some 29 consumers suspected of being involved in similar cases to be tried in court,” he said, during an operation to weed out power theft in the Tawau district on Wednesday (Nov 15).

Ahmad Nassaruddin said these consumers were investigated under Section 37 and 38 of the Electricity Supply Act 1990.

In the operation at Tawau, he said, SESB personnel managed to detect six commercial premises believed to have tampered with electricity meters or had illegal power connections.

He estimated SESB had incurred losses amounting to RM120,000 due to the alleged actions by the six premises.

“This operation started six months ago and was planned in detail to aid our investigations,” he said, adding the premises had tampered with the meters in such a way to half their energy consumption.

He notices were issued to all the premises to recoup the losses based on the actual electricity consumption.

“If the offenders fail to pay the damages, then we will take legal action against them and the cases can be brought to court,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said the SESB had approved a policy to reward individuals who provide information on meter tampering and illegal power connections.

He said the information provider will be rewarded between 1% and 2% from the total of claims obtained from the offender.

Whistleblowers may contact the SESB strike force department to report such incidents or call 088-282 782/779/778.

He said the SESB had also issued authority cards for all its staff to protect consumers from unscrupulous individuals.

“This also ensures only legitimate staff can access the SESB meters,” he said.