Landed with high electricity bill to settle

I AM a retiree with no monthly income. My house was rented to a Malaysian family for about 10 years. In December last year, they absconded without paying rental for eight months. I later found out that they had been stealing electricity for five years.

The supply to the house had been cut by Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) after the tenants failed to pay an outstanding bill of more than RM1,000. However, the tenants managed to find a way to reconnect the supply. By the time they absconded, they had amassed a bill for RM15,000, which I now have to pay.