Sesco staff in Niah held for illegal power connection

KUCHING: A former Sesco staff was arrested by the police recently for cheating and involvement in power theft.

The suspect was charged for cheating over manipulation at several households in Niah last year by illegally connecting electricity to their homes.

Sesco issued a press statement warning power theft service providers that once information on tampering is received from customers, it would pass the information to the police.

Customers would often reveal that they had been cheated by the service providers whose identity they would disclose.

Sesco also received information on tampering from the public through the power theft hotline 082-443535.

Any information received on power theft service will be handed over to the police for investigation.

The recent power theft prosecution case by Electrical Inspectorate Unit ( EIU) under the Ministry of Public Utilities in which the customer from Miri pleaded guilty to stealing electricity, has driven Sesco to continue working closely with police, EIU and other government agencies to bring electricity thieves to court. A Sesco spokesperson added that stealing electricity is a crime, under Section 33( 5) of the Electricity Ordinance which carries a fine up to RM100,000 or five years’ imprisonment or both.

In the past three years, Sesco has dismissed a total of 19 staff caught providing meter tampering services.

In January this year, Sesco also dismissed seven meter readers in Sibu for collaborating with customers to manipulate meter readings.

The Sesco spokesperson said: “This is an ongoing process. At present, several internal staff and meter readers are still being investigated.

“Sesco does not tolerate such misconduct from its staff and shall raise stringent investigation and extreme measures if there is substantial evidence of misconduct.”