THE country has suffered losses of almost RM4.9 billion since 2018 due to illegal electricity connection activities involving cryptocurrency mining, bitcoin.
Director of the Energy Commission (ST) Enforcement and Control Operations Department, Ismail Zaili Yusop said the huge losses were recorded through 15,125 cases detected in the same period until last July.
According to Ismail Zaili, through operations carried out by his party, in the five years ending since 2021, losses due to electricity theft for the purpose of bitcoin mining were recorded at almost RM28.7 million involving 67 premises.
"Kedah recorded the highest total loss of more than RM13.4 million involving 18 premises followed by Perak with RM5.9 million with 20 premises and Selangor with RM5.6 million in 16 premises," he told Sinar Harian.
He informed that other states that also recorded losses included Kelantan with RM1.8 million involving two premises, Pahang with four premises (RM768,975), Negeri Sembilan with three premises (RM487,585), Penang with two premises (RM309,906), Melaka with one premises (RM136,933) and Johor with one premises (RM129,218) - all cases involving illegal electricity connections for the purpose of bitcoin mining.
In the same five years, ST, which is an agency under the Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (PETRA), has also brought 27 cases of electricity theft to court.
The case involved various offences on premises including illegal factories and commercial buildings that used electricity connections fraudulently.
Ismail Zaili said that Section 37(3) of the Electricity Supply Act 1990 (Act 447) provides that offenders can be fined up to RM50,000 or imprisoned for one year for domestic users while for non-domestic users the maximum fine is RM1 million or imprisoned for five years for the first offence.
Meanwhile, last June, ST announced that it had disposed of 2,933 units of confiscated goods estimated to be worth more than RM1.7 million.
The disposal involved items from Perlis, Kedah and Penang as a result of investigations into several violations of laws relating to safety and the use of electricity.
Among the items disposed of were electrical accident cases involving 16 investigation papers, electricity theft operations (four investigation papers) and illegal electrical equipment operations (one investigation paper).
The disposal was carried out at a licensed metal disposal centre in Balakong, Selangor based on instructions from the Deputy Public Prosecutor under Sections 406A and 413 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Act 593), involving 21 investigation papers which were resolved through court and compound processes. – October 4, 2025
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