The Changhua District Court on Tuesday ordered a man to pay NT$1,654,308 (US$55,547) to Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) for using private electricity lines to power his cryptocurrency mining operation without paying energy bills.
The ruling can be appealed.
A Taipower inspector and police officers from the county’s Lukang Precinct in January last year found that the man, surnamed Cheng (鄭), had 20 cryptocurrency mining machines attached to two private power lines that were not connected to an electric meter.
Photo: Reuters
Taipower filed civil and criminal lawsuits against Cheng, saying he should be held responsible for his actions, which the company described as theft.
Upon its investigation of the criminal suit, the Changhua District Prosecutors’ Office said no theft was involved.
As part of the civil lawsuit, the state-run utility sought payment from Cheng for the unauthorized use of electricity provided under contract by the energy supplier to its customers.
Taipower’s contract with its customers states that it can charge up to 1.6 times an average annual electricity bill for contraventions of the contract.
Cheng said he should not be held responsible, because he was unaware of the existence of the private power lines, which he said his father installed before his death in December 2019.
Cheng added that the amount sought by Taipower was unreasonable.
Instead of the one-year period suggested by Taipower, Cheng said that he should only be liable for seven months, citing a police investigation that found the cryptocurrency mining operation took place from July 2020 to January last year.
He said the payment should not be 1.6 times an average annual power bill, as he had not contravened any contract with Taipower, adding that the amount should be NT$584,871.
However, the court ruled in favor of Taipower, saying Cheng did use electricity from the private lines to power his machines, adding that the power lines were in use before December 2019, as they had been installed by his father.
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