Coffeeshop owner fined RM20,000 over power theft
Published on: Tuesday, March 12, 2024
By: Cynthia D Baga
The offence under Section 37(3)(e) of the Electricity Supply Act 1990 and punishable under Section 37(3)(A) (iii) of the same Act provides for a fine of between RM20,000 and RM1million, or a jail term of up to five years, or both, on conviction.
Kota Kinabalu: A coffeeshop was fined RM20,000 for dishonestly preventing electric meter from duly recording its consumption.
Sessions Court Judge Elsie Primus meted out the sentence to Kedai Kopi 33 after its owner pleaded guilty to the charge, Monday.
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The coffeeshop was found committing the offence by disconnecting the red and yellow phase voltage cables and the red phase current cable at 3.50pm on Nov 25, 2021 at Lorong Bernam 3, Taman Soon Kiong, here.
The offence under Section 37(3)(e) of the Electricity Supply Act 1990 and punishable under Section 37(3)(A) (iii) of the same Act provides for a fine of between RM20,000 and RM1million, or a jail term of up to five years, or both, on conviction.
During mitigation, the owner asked for leniency.
However, Prosecuting Officer Norellysha Farhana Mohd Aris urged the court to hand down an appropriate sentence.
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The court heard that a team from the Energy Commission together with Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) raided the shop following a complaint.
Upon checking found that the security sticker of the meter, it was found that it had been torn on both sides.
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Further inspection later found that there was tampering on the meter and as such not able to record the actual consumption.
The accuracy test found that the average reading of the accuracy error percentage of -65.38 per cent was recorded.
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