In 2016, through arbitration courts and courts of general jurisdiction from individuals and legal entities that had non-metered electricity consumption, IDGC of Centre – Belgorodenergo division recovered about 6.5 million rubles. Another 12.8 million rubles of damage was paid voluntarily by unscrupulous consumers to avoid litigation. 264 thousand rubles fell on fines imposed as an administrative penalty and paid in favour of the state.
Last year 162 lawsuits were filed for the amount of 7.4 million rubles to persons who used electricity in the absence of a signed electricity supply contract. The total amount of recovered non-contractual electricity consumption exceeded 7.9 million kWh.
The most common method of theft was unauthorized connection to electric grids, bypassing the meter. A businessman from Gubkin did so after the division of the car service into two independent companies and the organization of his own workshop. Connected to the electricity meter of his former partner, he consumed electricity for free. He paid 70 thousand rubles for non-contractual consumption.
The presence of non-contractual consumption is evidenced by the so-called "hidden electrical wiring" and household appliances, lamps and sockets that continue to operate with the power meter de-energized. It is quite simple to discover such tricks - by using special instruments. It also happens that a person becomes an intruder without even realizing it - when inheritance from previous owners he gets home ownership with unauthorized changes in the installation of the wiring and a meter. For such a citizen, penalties become a very unpleasant and costly "discovery".
It should be noted that the energy company appeals to the court if the consumer refuses to voluntarily reimburse the damage caused to the company. The cost of damage can be measured in hundreds of thousands of rubles, because it is calculated based on the capacity of the cable or the wire that is connected. However, in the event of initiating a trial, the offender will also have to compensate for legal costs.
In order to increase the actual enforcement of judgments in the Belgorod region the practice of jointly collecting the cost of non-contractual consumption, both from the perpetrators themselves and from members of their families, and from the heirs, is universally introduced. There are in practice cases of debt collection from violators who did not provide their appearance in court by making absentee decisions. Power engineers go together with bailiffs to problem debtors, who evade execution of court decisions.
So, with the help of court bailiffs, it was possible to compensate for the damage from non-contractual consumption in the village of Soldatskoye in Starooskolsky district of the Belgorod region. The case was tried in court, because the consumer disagreed with the amount of damage he had been exposed to. By a court decision of September 29, 2016, the requirements of the branch were fully satisfied, and on January 31, 2017, the funds went to the account of the branch.
In addition to non-contractual consumption, power engineers often face non-metered consumption of electricity. Last year, it was identified and accepted to include in the amount of electricity transmission 677 facts of interference in the operation of meters in the amount of 9.3 million kWh at more than 19.5 million rubles. Violators try to "deceive" electricity meters with the help of various tricks, a full list of which is on the special control of employees of Belgorodenergo.
Responsibility for illegal consumption of electricity lies both in the administrative and criminal areas. In addition to recovering the cost of stolen electricity, the amount of which is calculated by the transmission capacity of supply lines, which translates into a fairly impressive amount, the violator can incur administrative liability in accordance with Art. 7.19 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation or criminal in the form of imprisonment for a term of up to two years (the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 165 part 1). And if a crime is committed by a group of persons by prior agreement or by an organized group, if, for example, the offender is a legal entity, and if the damage is classified as "particularly large" - in the form of imprisonment for up to five years (the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 165 part 2).