MIRI: Sarawak Energy’s utility arm, Syarikat SESCO Berhad (SESCO) recently raided a megamall located at Bintang Jaya Commercial Centre following a public tip-off that led to the discovery of power theft activity by the mall operator and one of its anchor tenants.
Initial investigation found that there were abnormalities in the meter reading which led to the raid, while on site investigators discovered the wiring system of two meters were tampered with. One meter supplies electricity to the air conditioning of the mall and hotel lobby next to the mall, while the other meter supplies to one of the anchor tenants.
“The metering circuits were found cut and wrapped with wire tape causing the meters to register only one phase of the power consumption instead of three phases. This caused low meter reading, recording only about one third of the actual energy consumption and resulted in an estimated loss of about RM100,000 per month for both meters,” SESCO’s spokesperson said.
All evidence of meter tampering was seized and a police report was lodged for further investigation.
“This discovery was made possible with cooperation from the public. Following the lead and months of surveillance confirmed our suspicion of power theft at the mall,” said the spokesperson.
“Stealing electricity is a crime that endangers lives. It can damage customers’ electrical appliances and even cause fire to the premises. We would also like to remind the public not to trust any service provider claiming to be able to reduce electricity bills and allowing business owners to enjoy limitless electricity usage. These service providers are duping the business owners and at the end of the day, it is the owner who will be held responsible for power theft crime,” the spokesperson added.
The owners will be charged for meter tampering under Section 33(5) of the Sarawak Electricity Ordinance which carries a fine of RM100,000 and/or five years’ jail.
SESCO together with Ministry of Utilities’ Electrical Inspectorate Unit and the State Police will continue on with the crackdown on power theft to curb this crime.
SESCO also seeks for continuous public cooperation to report any suspicious electricity theft activities via its dedicated hotline at 082-443535. All information will be treated as strictly confidential.
