In the dark over power cut

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EIGHTY-eight residents of Taman Miharja flats Phase 1, off Jalan Loke Yew, Kuala Lumpur, lodged a police report against Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) for replacing their meters recently without any notice.

Taman Miharja resident and Management Corporation chairman Hong Gee Peng said they were only aware that the TNB contractors were replacing the meters when residents complained of a power supply cut in their units during the exercise.

“Some residents called to ask why there was no electricity on Nov 16. Then we realised that TNB workers were replacing the meters.

“The workers could not produce any notice issued for the exercise,” he said.

In full swing: A filepic of a TNB worker installing a new meter.

He added that residents were approached by the workers earlier for the keys to the meter room.

Hong said the residents were not aware that all the meters would be replaced.

He said he demanded them to stop work, however, the contractors returned the next day to a different block which is under a different management corporation to carry out the exercise.

“The owners should be informed of the exercise if not invited to witness the replacing of meters so that they can at least record the last reading,” he said,

He added that the residents lodged a police report at the Cheras police headquarters yesterday as they were worried that they might be accused of tampering with the meters.

“The residents are worried as there have been many cases of TNB telling residents that the old meters have been tampered with and asking them to pay the arrears for being undercharged all along,” he added.

Taman Miharja resident Goh Bock Teck, 69, said the residents were not aware of the exercise because they were not served with any notice.

“We are worried that now they might accuse us of tampering with the old meters,” he said.

Another resident, Wong Chee Kong, 65, said TNB should not replace the meters if there were no residents to witness the exercise.

“It is not right to do it without our presence. They should at least ask us to send a representative otherwise we would not know what they are doing. If they are not doing anything wrong, then why are they not informing us of the exercise,” he said.

“If they accuse us of tampering with the meter, we cannot do anything as we do not have any proof or any reading recorded,” he added.

Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai, who was also present when the report was lodged, said such action should be conducted with the knowledge of the residents.

“Every owner or at least a representative from the management must be present to witness the replacement of the meters,” he said.

He added that he would request for a meeting to be held with the TNB Kuala Lumpur general manager with the affected residents.