SIBU: Shophouse owners have been advised to get their tenants to apply for their own electricity meters upon renting these properties.
In giving the advice, Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Dudong Branch Chairman, Wong Ching Yong said last week, a middle aged couple had met him for help.
“The couple owned a shophouse here which was let to a company which was supposed to use it as a store. The monthly rental was RM1,000. A tenancy agreement was signed by both parties in January 2024.
“In August 2025, the owners received a letter of demand from Sarawak Energy for outstanding electricity charges amounting to RM280,000.
“The couple was shocked to the core because the tenant did not install an electricity meter,” he said in a press statement on Monday (Nov 17).
Wong, who is also SUPP Assistant Central Publicity Secretary stated that Sarawak Energy informed them that the arrears was caused by direct tapping by the tenant company though no meter was installed .
After further investigation, he said, they discovered that the tenant company had illegally connected cables from the public power lines.
It is suspected that the tenant company was involved in cryptocurrency which consumed huge amounts of electricity because cryptocurrency operations need many sets of computer terminals to do big data research and to provide a conducive environment for the computers, all the air conditioners wouold have had to be switched on 24 hours.
Sarawak Energy, Wong added, after listening to the appeal from the owners had agreed to reduce the arrears to approximately RM98, 000 and allowed them to pay the sum in installments. Still, it is a big sum of money to anyone.
Wong called on owners of buildings including residential and commercial properties to conduct a detailed research on the background of prospective tenants.
All tenancy agreements must be prepared by lawyers who are well versed with the Sarawak Electricity Ordinance, he added.
