An electricity meter of a Sibu law firm found tampered with

SIBU, May 21, 2014: Electricity meters connected to a law firm and a massage parlour here were found to have been tampered with as Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation (SESCo) continued its offensive against electricity theft suspects today.

The meters were promptly replaced by SESCo technicians with new ones.

A SESCo spokeperson, however, expressed her outrage that a new electricity meter connected to a packaging company was found to have been tampered with.

"We have replaced the old one, which was found to have been tampered with sometime ago, with the new one.

"Upon our inspection, this new meter was also tampered with," she said.

In the three cases, the technicians took back the meters for testing at the SESCo laboratory and if there are evidence of tampering, the operators or owners of the three companies will be charged in court for stealing of electricity.

Under section 33(5) of the Sarawak Electricity Ordinance, anyone found guilty for power theft is liable to a fine of up to RM100,000 or for an imprisonment term of five years or both.

The spokesperson said since the introduction of the Power Theft Hotline 082 443535, SESCo has received on average four to five reports weekly on power thefts from the public.

She said since 2011, SESCo technicians have carried out inspections on 107,981 meters and out of the figure, 13,139 of them or 12.17% were found to have been tampered with.

She said that SESCo had managed to reduce losses, due to power thefts, from RM140 million to RM60 million since 2011.

"SESCo incurred losses of up to RM35 million annually in Sibu or over 50% of the total losses incurred throughout Sarawak," she said, adding in 2010, electricity supplier lost RM60 million from power theft.

She explained that the most common power theft is illegal direct tapping from incoming mains wiring or from the cut fuse or underground cable, without passing through the meter.

"Another is by illegally using remote control switch or relay and even magnetic switch implanted in the meter," she added.