KOTA KINABALU: The Energy Commission of Sabah (ECoS) will focus more on preventive and corrective measures to curb power thefts in the state.
ECoS Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Datuk Abdul Nasser Abdul Wahid said these measures would include more collaboration between Sabah Electricity and other agencies as well as awareness programmes in the community.
He said the ECoS was progressing well since its inception in January 2023, and had seen more efficient prosecution of offences under the various Enacments as many of the powers have been devolved recently to Sabah in particular Electricity Supply Enacments back in January 2024.
“Just recently, we have seen nine cases prosecuted in court, and these cases were done fast from the arrest up to charging and prosecution, all done in Sabah,” he said when contacted recently.
“Before these, cases were slower to be prosecuted because it had to go through the federal level then back to the state,” said Abdul Nasser.
As for raids, he said ECoS in 2024, had conducted more than 20, focusing on major targets, whilst their partner Sabah Electricity carried out over 3,000 operations statewide on various electric related offences.
“We work together and we have lots of collaborations with other agencies such as the Immigration Department, National Registration Department, Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and security forces,” he added.
Abdul Nasser said the ECoS will not stop at these initiatives but continue to strengthen their role and enforcement in Sabah.
“Besides enforcement, we have prevention such as tightening laws, technological advancement for smart meters, prepaid concepts and awareness programmes, etc. This is ongoing and we can see fruition on the point of upholding the law,” he stressed.
He said there were a lot of ground intelligence works carried out which ECoS do not make public.
