Electricity theft is a growing concern for bitcoin mining in Malaysia. However, the national utility has some suggestions for reducing the behavior.
A senior executive at Tenaga National announced Thursday that the company had suggested a special rate for bitcoin mining firms to combat electricity theft. It also indicated that the Energy Commission encourages bitcoin miners to register for legitimate energy supplies.
Tenaga, whose largest stakeholder is Malaysia’s national wealth fund Treasury National, is seeing an increase in the number of incidents where energy is being used to illegally mine cryptocurrencies. In an interview, President and CEO Bahrain Deen said he expects the number to grow.
Cryptocurrency mining – an energy sucking activity
Cryptocurrency mining, a time-consuming and energy-intensive computational process used to produce bitcoin and other tokens, has spread like wildfire around the world as the value of digital assets skyrocketed.
While many efforts have been made to make this process more ecologically friendly, it is still considered counterproductive in many respects.
Cryptocurrency mining is not against the law in Malaysia. However, some miners steal electricity by interfering with meter installation or by bypassing meters and establishing unauthorized connections.
According to Tenaga, there were 7,209 energy thefts by illegal bitcoin miners in 2021, up from 610 in 2018.
Tenaga is collaborating with Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency, the police, the Energy Commission and local governments to catch electricity thieves, especially bitcoin miners.
According to Bahrain, 18 people were detained between 2018 and 2021 for an estimated 2.3 billion ringgit (US$550 million) in energy theft.
According to Paul Lim Pe Chuan, Managing Director of Pestec International and CEO of the Group, the technology could also aid the Malaysian electric power technology business.
“The implementation of smart metering, meter data management systems, analytical software, and the choice of digital power quality products will significantly increase the availability of critical electricity demand and supply information,” he said.
“This could give the utility such up-to-date data for greater monitoring, planning and control over the entire ecosystem – including the prevention of electricity theft.”
Given that bitcoin mining is illegal in Malaysia, it is unclear how they will execute the idea if it is passed.
Overall, digital currency legislation in Malaysia is still a contentious issue. Malaysia’s Deputy Finance Minister Yamani Hafiz Musa recently said that cryptocurrencies are not a financial option.
According to their government sources, digital currencies have not exhibited the characteristics of a worldwide currency.
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