The government power utility in the Marshall Islands has received threats from locals after it launched an aggressive campaign against illegal power use in the nation's capital, Majuro.
The Marshalls Energy Company's General Manager David Paul says people do not like having free electricity taken away.
Mr Paul says enforcement action has come with a price and a few people have come into their office threatening them.
He says he believes these threats are from people who have been allowed to abuse power for years without any penalty.
But he says in spite of the threats to company personnel, they will still continue to inspect people's meters.
When meter readers find private customers abusing power, they have their power disconnected, the utility publishes their names in the local newspaper, and fines them 1,000 US dollars before they can be reconnected.
David Paul says it is having an impact and there are still a significant number of customers out there but they will continue to do spot checks.
