By Gabriel Lihan
MIRI: Sarawak Energy and the police have discovered electricity theft activities at a cryptocurrency mining centre operating in one residential unit located at Jalan Jee Foh, here yesterday.
The discovery was made following an outage report in the area which was caused by a burnt cable due to system overload.
Further investigation revealed that one of the houses in the area was consuming an unusually high amount of electricity.
This raised suspicions of electricity theft and police were alerted immediately by Sarawak Energy’s team for a joint inspection.
During the inspection, 30 units of mining rigs and other equipment used to mine cryptocurrency were found.
Separately, Sarawak Energy’s technical team also found direct tapping cables connected to the servers, bypassing the electricity meter and were tampered with shunting wires and magnets attached.
Subsequently all cryptocurrency mining rigs, equipment, direct tapping cables and electricity meters were dismantled and seized by the police as evidence of electricity theft.
According to a statement, the landlord was also called to witness the seizure of items. The premises are currently rented out to a tenant with the electricity account still maintained under the landlord’s name.
Cryptocurrency mining servers are energy-intensive machines operating 24 hours daily, often requiring cooling units to avoid them from overheating.
Non-standard fuses and illegal wiring connections commonly used in electricity theft can easily overload the electrical system capacity, increasing the risk of short circuits, damaging appliances, causing fires and even loss of lives.
In addition to that, Sarawak Energy is estimated to have incurred losses of RM11,400 per month or RM410,400 over three years in unregistered electricity consumption in this particular case.
Meanwhile, billing records also disclosed that the tenant was paying an unreasonably low electricity bill of between RM50 and RM60 per month as most of the consumed electricity was unrecorded.
A police report was lodged and all parties, including the premises owner will be called to assist in the investigation.
Electricity theft is a criminal offence under Section 33(5) of the Electricity Ordinance, which carries a penalty of up to RM100,000 and or five years jail if found guilty.
With that, Sarawak Energy reminds customers that tampering with wires to under-record electricity consumption is both illegal and dangerous.
In cases where electricity is stolen for energy intensive activities such as cryptocurrency mining, it can also lead to outages in the surrounding areas, causing unnecessary inconvenience to neighbours.
Electricity theft is a criminal offence under Section 33(5) of the Electricity Ordinance, which carries a penalty of up to RM100,000 and/or five years jail if found guilty.
Elaborating further, Sarawak Energy together with the Ministry of Utility and Telecommunication (MUT) and the Police will continue to track down electricity thieves that steal electricity to maximise their profits at the expense of public safety.
Besides that, members of the public are reminded not to trust service providers claiming to be able to reduce electricity use or allow premises owners to enjoy unlimited usage of electricity through meter tampering.
Meter inspection teams are trained to detect various electricity theft methods, including tampered meters, fake electricity meter covers and underground direct tapping as part of Sarawak Energy’s efforts to curb power theft.
Sarawak Energy also advised landlords to conduct background checks on potential tenants, be mindful and alert of their activities to avoid being implicated in electricity theft crimes committed at the rented premises.
To report any suspicious activities related to electricity theft and service providers claiming to be able to reduce electricity use, members of the public can contact Sarawak Energy’s Customer Care Centre at 1300-88-3111 or email at customercare@sarawakenergy.com. Rest assured that all information received will be kept strictly confidential.
