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Muar Sessions Court, 17th of November 2023:
In the year of 2018, our client, Mr Toh, who is the owner of a factory in Muar was sued by Tenaga Nasional Berhad for a large sum of monies. Tenaga Nasional Berhad had claimed that the 3 phase meter at Mr Toh's factory had been tampered. More specifically, it is alleged that the fuse at the red and yellow phase of the meter has been "blown", and the fuse at the blue phase is removed. See illustration as follows:-
As a result, TNB had claimed a large amount of monies as its "loss of revenue" caused by the alleged tampering.
Our client unfortunately is only the landlord of the factory and had never used the electricity supply at the factory. Due to that, we have sued and obtained judgment in default against the tenants who had occupied the premises during that period.
At the same time, we had also defended against TNB's claim, and we raised several arguments including:-
TNB cannot prove that the fuse "blown" is a deliberate act of tampering, as it is common knowledge that fuse can get blown naturally due to overloading of electricity current;
TNB failed to produce the relevant meter in court, and instead only shown some "seals" at the meter which does not prove the tampering;
TNB calculated the compensation amount based on "commercial tariff", when in fact it is a factory and industrial tariff should have been applied;
TNB's written statement (which is a requirement under S. 38(4) Electricity Supply Act) is defective, as the officer whom signed the letter actually no longer has authority at the time.
Most importantly however, we had managed to strike out all of TNB's documentary proof on calculating the "loss of revenue", including the jadual pengiraan amaun terkurang caj, the graphs on electricity consumption, history of reading etc. This is because prior to this case being filed in Court, TNB had issued a letter of demand and our client had actually made inquiries and requested for these documents to be produced. However, TNB had neglected to provide these documents.
We managed to strike out all these documentary proof based on the Court of Appeal's decision on Dunia Raya's case whereby it is decided that if a document is not produced when inquired by a consumer, the document is not allowed at trial due to procedural unfairness. Without these documents, TNB cannot and is unable to prove its amount of losses.
The Muar Sessions Court judge had acutely and accurately picked up the arguments we have provided, and had dismissed TNB's entire case against our client. This marks our numerous victories in defending the consumers against TNB's claim. The case is currently in appeal which we are defending the appeal.
For more information on this case, you may contact us at this website, or through email at zenchyuanco@gmail.com , or through phone calls and whatsapp at 016-4358376, whereby we can provide even more detailed insight and the written grounds of judgment.
Written by,
Loh Cien Zen
Partner, Head of litigation
Resident Patent and Industrial Design Agent
Our Mr Loh Cien Zen has a huge portfolio and experience in civil litigation, including but not limited to a long illustrious experience in handling energy supply disputes with Tenaga Nasional Berhad, tort of negligence, defamation, interference, corporate and contractual disputes, strata management cases, etc. He is currently the head of litigation in our firm and also our resident patent and industrial design consultant, with active partnerships with foreign companies from China, local listed companies and other law firms.
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