Landlord’s Rights: How To Avoid Liability For Your Tenant’s TNB Bill

A property owner was recently forced to pay Tenanga Nasional Berhad (TNB) RM825,000 to settle his tenant’s outstanding electricity bill.

The nightmare started for the landlord back in 2020 when he rented his property to a tenant who illegally tapped into the unit’s electrical wiring which incurred penalty charges from TNB amounting to RM1.7 million.

Although TNB later reduced the bill to RM825,000, the landlord took the case to court which dragged on for two years. The landlord’s cautionary tale was featured on the viral video channel DailyMotion recently after he had to pay up after the court decided against him.

This landlord’s dilemma in having to pay for his tenant’s illegal activities is not isolated. There have been a rise in cases of landlords being saddled with huge electricity bills incurred by their tenants

Over RM8.5 mil in electricity bills due to illegal crypto mining

Last month, fourty-five house owners and business owners also reported that their tenants have stolen their identities to conduct illegal Bitcoin mining. The victims have suffered from a crippling total of RM8.5 million in electricity bills, with many of the tenants being unaware of the issue until they received notices from Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).

According to reporting by the News Straits Times, KC Teo, 57, who is wheelchair-bound, is said to owe TNB around RM300,000 after discovering that his tenant used a different identity to rent out his property. Despite discovering his tenant’s true identity, Teo is still being forced to pay TNB for the amount owed.

Another victim, who wishes to only be known as Ganeson, only discovered his tenant’s illegal Bitcoin mining activities after receiving a call from TNB for failing to clear up a RM73,000 bill. Ganeson ended up paying RM70,000 to TNB, but argued that landlords should not be forced to take responsibility for such fraud.

One businessman who only wants to be known as Tom, said that 10 TNB accounts were registered under his company using fraudulent Companies Commission of Malaysia documents. In total, these accounts managed to amass up to RM700,000 in unpaid bills.

Steps landlords can take to avoid liability for tenants electricity bills

Lee Chean Chung, Petaling Jaya’s member of parliament, has urged TNB to form a task force to investigate these activities. He also states TNB should look deeper into these cases instead of just pushing the victims to pay in installments.

He also said he will propose amendments to the Electricity Supply Act 1990 during the parliamentary meeting next month. These amendments aim to strengthen enforcement against fraudulent activities, improve customer verification processes, and mandate monitoring systems for unusual power consumption.

Use myTNB app to monitor tenant’s electricity use

In order to avoid such tragedies, property owners can consider looking into TNB’s Smart Meters and the myTNB app. Once a Smart Meter is installed, registered property owners can track how much electricity has been consumed and also view how much their electricity bill costs. 

myTNB App is a free mobile app for you to manage your TNB electricity account(s) in one location. It is particularly helpful for landlords to monitor the power usage of their tenants and also to check if there are any outstanding bills unpaid by their tenants.

Change the registered user on the bill to the tenant

For company or commercial rentals, it might also be better to change the registered user on the bill to the tenant so the landlord is not held liable should the tenant abuse the property’s electricity.

In order to do this, TNB advises property owners to consider the two options before a new tenant moves in.

• Property owners could do a Change of Tenancy making the tenant fully responsible for any delinquent account. However, owners will lose the right to instruct a disconnection to TNB in the event the tenant defaults in his monthly electricity bills
• Owners could register with myTNB and would then be able to monitor their tenant’s monthly usage and payment pattern

TNB’s clarification on tenant-landlord matters regarding electricity supply

Basically whoever is the registered user on the TNB account will be held responsible.  Here’s a quick checklist on who is liable, steps to change the registered user and how to cancel or reconnect a TNB account.

For more information, users can contact the TNB Billing Enquiries hotline at 1 300 88 5454 or email to tnbcareline@tnb.com.my. They are open from 7am to 11pm (Monday to Saturday).