More than 5,000 electricity theft cases detected through Smart Meters from 2021 to 2025, Fadillah tells Parliament

KUALA LUMPUR: Premises owners renting out properties should transfer electricity meter accounts to their tenants to avoid being implicated in power theft linked to illegal cryptocurrency mining, says Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof. Read full story KUALA LUMPUR: Premises owners renting out properties should transfer electricity meter accounts to their tenants to avoid being implicated in power theft linked to illegal cryptocurrency mining, says Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.The Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Transition and Water Transformation Minister said there have been cases where property owners rent out their premises to tenants who may be conducting cryptocurrency mining.“We need to create awareness on this with many cases detected. We are finding ways to help those truly innocent here as some may have arrears costing up to hundreds of thousands,” he said during question time in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Feb 24).Fadillah said cryptocurrency mining not only endangers users' safety but also impacts the national economy alongside increasing public safety risks and a serious threat to the national energy supply system.He noted that as many as 5,133 cases of electricity theft were detected through smart meters between 2021 to 2025.This resulted in losses amounting to RM41mil.Apart from the installation of Distribution Transformer Meters and Smart Meters by Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Fadillah said drone technology and handheld thermal devices are also used to detect electricity theft cases.“This allows heat detection in suspected hotspots and helps identify instances of cryptocurrency mining that is done illegally,” he said.According to Fadillah, the installation of such meters and advanced technological enforcement resulted in greater detection of electricity theft cases across the years.He noted that there were 379 cases in 2021 followed by 647 in 2022, 909 in 2023, 1,298 in 2024 and 1,900 last year.“This shows that technology helps us detect better. Since there are more cases, the losses will also increase.“What’s more important is taking progressive action to detect such actions,” he said.Fadillah was responding to questions by Lee Chean Chung (PH-Petaling Jaya) and Datuk Abdul Khalib Abdullah (PN-Rompin) who asked about the matter.Lee had asked about the number of electricity theft cases detected through the DTM and Smart Meters alongside the estimated losses for Tenaga Nasional Berhad.Abdul Khalib meanwhile asked about the effectiveness of inter-agency operations to curb electricity theft. Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates! Tags / Keywords: Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry , Dewan Rakyat , Meters , Electricity , Theft , Fadillah Yusof Report a mistake What is the issue about? Spelling and grammatical error Factually incorrect Story is irrelevant This field is mandatory. Please provide details of the report. Email (optional) Please enter valid email. Report issue Cancel Invalid captcha response. Please re-try again. Thank you for your report! Related News Nation 36m ago Only data centres that benefit Malaysia allowed to set up shop, Anwar tells Dewan Rakyat Nation 10 Feb 2026 Fadillah leads 3-day Jakarta visit to boost Asean climate diplomacy Nation 28 Jan 2026 Petra aims to resolve Labuan water woes