Megamall operator caught stealing electricity

KUCHING: Sarawak Energy’s utility arm, Syarikat Sesco Berhad ( Sesco) recently raided a megamall located at Bintang Jaya commercial centre here following a public tip off, which led to the discovery of power theft activity by one of the mall’s anchor tenants.

In a press statement yesterday, Sarawak Energy said initial investigations revealed that there were abnormalities in the meter reading which led to the raid.

While on site, investigators discovered that the wiring system of two meters were tampered with.

One of the meter supplies electricity for the air conditioning of the mall and hotel lobby next to the mall while the other meter supplies power 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 causes 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,” said a Sesco spokesperson.

All evidence of meter tampering was seized and a police report was lodged to facilitate further investigation.

“This discovery was made possible with cooperation from the public. 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,” he added.

The public are also reminded to not trust any service provider claiming to be able to reduce electricity bills and allowing business owners to enjoy limitless electricity usage.

According to Sesco, such service providers are in fact duping the business owners.

“At the end of the day, it is the owner who will be held responsible for power theft crime,” the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, 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 the Ministry of Utilities’ Electrical Inspectorate Unit and the State Police will continue with their crackdown on power theft to curb the 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.