The court established that wrongful electricity disconnection without proof of tampering entitles affected parties to comprehensive damages, including exemplary damages for corporate malfeasance.

JUDGMENT

Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid J:

Introduction

[1] The plaintiff is a company incorporated and registered under the Companies Act 1965 with its registered office at Blk G-04-06, Jalan Simbang 17, Taman Perling, 81200 Johor Bahru, Johor.

[2] The defendant is a company established and registered under the Companies Act 1965 with a registered address at the Pejabat Setiausaha Syarikat, Tingkat 2, Ibu Pejabat Tenaga Nasional Berhad, No 129, Jalan Bangsar, 59200 Kuala Lumpur and is the license holder for electricity supply in Malaysia.

[3] The plaintiff was at all material times a registered user of electricity supplied and provided by the defendant under the account numbers of 03400082532201 (Meter A) and 03400082532408 (Meter B) respectively (the meters) for Lot 140216 (MSB1) and Lot 140216-1 (MSB2) at Jalan Berjaya 8/1, Perindustrian Taman Berjaya, 81200 Skudai Johor (plaintiff's premises).

[4] The plaintiff's claim against the defendant is for the damages suffered by the plaintiff due to the disconnection of electricity supply to its premises.

[5] The plaintiff's claim against the defendant amongst others is for the following prayers:

(i) special damages amounting to RM2,907,931.40 arising from the first wrongful disconnection;

(ii) special damages amounting to RM652,012.20 arising from the second wrongful disconnection;

(iii) general damages arising from its unlawful interference with the plaintiff's trade;

(iv) general damages for infringing on the plaintiff's rights as a registered electricity user by divulging the plaintiff's account details to a third party without the plaintiff's consent;

(v) general damages and aggravated damages arising from the defamation;

(vi) general damages and aggravated damages arising from the trespass;

(vii) an injunction to prevent the defendant and/or the defendant's officers from entering the plaintiff's premises and/or repeating the defendant's action and/or disconnecting the electricity supply and/or disrupting the plaintiff's business in any way;

(viii) a declaration that the defendant subtract a sum of RM1,116,638.31 from the meter accounts;

(ix) a declaration that the plaintiff had never tampered the MSB1 and MSB2;

(x) a declaration that the plaintiff does not owe the defendant the amounts incurred due to the alleged tampering found against MSB1 during the inspections on 4 December 2013, 6 May 2014, 10 May 2014, 15 October 2014 and 7 January 2015.

(xi) a declaration that the defendant subtract RM151,016.15 and RM167,467.77 from the meters accounts;

(xii) a declaration that the TNB demand letter dated 1 February 2016 is null and void;

(xiii) exemplary damages; and

(xiv) costs.

Background Facts

[6] The defendant conducted inspections on the meter installation at the plaintiff's premises on 4 December 2013 and 6 May 2014.

[7] On 23 June 2014 and 25 June 2014, the defendant had issued two notices of disconnection of electricity supply ('the disconnection of supply notices') in Form A Schedule as a result of the inspection on 6 May 2014.

[8] The said disconnection of supply notices stated that the supply of the electricity would be disconnected on 24 June 2014 and 26 June 2014 respectively. However, the disconnection of the supply of the electricity did not occur on that specified dates.

[9] On 1 July 2014, the defendant issued disconnection notices dated 1 July 2014 for MSB 1 and MSB 2 to the plaintiff and disconnected the electricity supply to the plaintiff's premises (the first disconnection of supply). The defendant only resumed the supply of the electricity for both MSB 1 and MSB 2 on 1 October 2014.

[10] On 27 July 2014, the plaintiff received four letters of demand dated 27 July 2014 ('the letters of demand') from the defendant claiming for the loss of revenue based on the allegations that the tampering and/or modifications have been made to the meters at the plaintiff's premises. The said letters of demand were signed by Mr Mohd Azfar bin Azhari on behalf of the Engineers (SEAL-South Zone), Seksyen Jaminan Hasi