Malaysian electricity giant TNB has suffered cumulative losses of over $1.1 billion due to electricity theft from crypto mining

PANews, November 19 — According to Reuters, Malaysia's national power company TNB stated that from 2020 to August this year, illegal electricity usage for cryptocurrency mining caused losses of about $1.1 billion (approximately 4.6 billion ringgit). Officials disclosed that a total of 13,827 locations suspected of electricity theft were seized, with related activities involving tampering with electricity meters and unauthorized wiring, which are violations under the Electricity Supply Act. TNB has joined forces with the police, communications regulators, and anti-corruption agencies to take action, confiscate bitcoin mining machines, and establish a database of property owners and tenants involved in the cases for monitoring and enforcement. At the same time, smart meters have been deployed at distribution substations to detect abnormal energy usage in real time.