KOTA KINABALU: Illegal installations of electric poles, bypass installations and meter tampering are among the offences recorded by the Energy Commission of Sabah (ECoS) throughout January up to March.
According to ECoS, these were among the 19 charges with fines amounting to RM190,000 they had prosecuted in Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu under the Electric Supply Enactment 2024.
It said that from these cases, 10 were charged in Sandakan and nine were in Kota Kinabalu.
For cases at the Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court, five were related to a company involved in the installation of fibre optic concrete poles near a high voltage electric pole without the permission from Sabah Electricity as the legal owner.
This resulted in an accident which caused permanent damage to one of its workers. This company was fined RM11,000.
Another company was fined RM20,000 for illegal bypassing works and RM5,000 for illegal wiring without the permission from Sabah Electricity,
Three ongoing cases involving an individual and two companies were allowed bails of between RM5,000 and RM20,000 pending the re-mention of their cases on April 10, April 14 and April 23, respectively.
In another incident, a furniture company pleaded guilty to power thefts and was fined RM25,000.
In Sandakan, four premises under one company were fined between RM8,000 and RM20,000 for nine cases of meter tampering.
Other offenders included a homeowner who was fined RM5,000 and RM7,000 for two offences, while a club owner was fined RM25,000 for power theft.
All proceedings were conducted by ECoS prosecuting counsel Andryeno Thomas and all fines, as well as bail, were paid by the offenders.
The ECoS is committed to enforcing all its regulations under the law and would continue to ensure the integrity of Sabah’s power supplies through strict monitoring and strengthened enforcement of laws.
