‘The price of monopoly is upon every occasion the highest which can be got…The one upon every occasion the highest which can be squeezed out of the buyers, or which, it is supposed, they will consent to give…”
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776)
Tenaga Nasional Berhad or TNB, once called National Electricity Board (NEB) is the country’s biggest and sole supplier of electricity.
As a government-gifted monopoly backed by parliament-made laws protective of its economic interests, TNB has over the years grown profitable, powerful and technologically advanced. Recently the public’s acceptance of TNB as a necessary behemoth has turned into open hostility and even disdain as more consumers have come out accusing TNB of overcharging and high-handedness.
Consumers who find their home or factory power supplies cut and court actions taken against them by TNB for stealing electricity through meter tampering are especially unhappy and aggrieved.
These consumers are slapped with debilitating (and sometimes multiple) court summonses by TNB. The claims for such “loss of revenue” are usually punitive and sometimes for sums of money far exceeding what most consumers are capable of benefitting from their alleged transgression.
A consumer when sued by TNB for meter tampering is like a soccer team that enters a match with a pre-existing 1-0 score at kick-off in favour of the rival.
Much of the apparent unfairness is due to the way the courts have interpreted the abstruse provisions of the Electricity Supply Act 1990 – a statute specially enacted for the benefit of TNB’s privatization.
Recently the judicial tide seems to be turning in favor of consumer rights over the unrestrained free hands of corporate monopoly.
In a first ever decision, the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya stunningly slashed TNB’s claim against a customer for tampering with the power meters in its plastic making factory in Johor Bahru.***
TNB’s claim for RM1.1 million of loss revenue from tampering was dramatically reduced by the court to just RM28,000 – a reduction of over 97% !
The appeal court’s panel of three learned judges unanimously sent a strong signal that TNB can no longer simply claim any unreasonably huge amount it wants from the consumer based on the previous logic of the courts that a thief who has stolen has no right to question but, as punishment, must merely accept whatever amount the victim has estimated to be his loss.
Now the Court of Appeal says TNB to be sure can still claim the lost income from meter tampering by using an estimate but this estimate must not only be fair and reasonable. It must also be mathematically calculable and capable of standing in the face of the facts.
Lim Yew Yi , LLB (Malaya), Advocate and Solicitor
*** The case of Tan Kwee Siang v Tenaga Nasional Berhad, decision of the Court of Appeal was delivered on 23 May 2019. Kerk & Partners acted for the appellant Tan Kwee Siang. The case is at the time of this article unreported
kerkco.com 
This piece clarifies the babble in the coffee shop. It shaves the fuzz from the peach, but a “government-gifted monopoly backed by parliament-made laws protective of its economic interests” would be inclined to have a go at the apex for their pound of flesh; but not if the newly appointed CEO, Amir Hamzah, is paying attention. He appears to be in touch with ground zero and at a press conference yesterday, he broached the dreaded ‘guestimates’ issue. Down the pike he holds that perception is a marketing strategy, so is eating crow! https://youtu.be/qQOAqN6AZ0M
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