Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) is suffering estimated losses of between RM100mil and RM500mil every year due to electricity theft, reported China Press.
The daily quoted its chief operating officer Datuk Azman Mohamad as saying that in the financial years 2005 to 2010, there were more than 60,000 electricity theft cases with 60% of them being industrial and commercial users.
He said TNB had asked for payment of RM45mil from electricity thieves in the financial year of 2010 (from Sept 1 last year to Aug 31 this year).
“With the help of high technology, more electricity theft cases are being discovered each year.
“In 2007, 5,654 cases were discovered, while in 2008 there were 7,362 cases, 8,871 cases (last year) and 9,350 cases (this year),” he said.
Azman said once a case is discovered, TNB would issue a letter to ask those involved to give an explanation.
“If we do not get any reply, we will take legal action,” he said.
He said 9,648 cases involved legal proceedings this year while there were 1,104 cases in 2008 and 2,390 cases last year.
Azman said the situation in Malaysia was similar to the Philippines but more serious compared to other developed countries.
