Hotline of power engineering specialists:
Employees of IDGC of Centre - Belgorodenergo division, together with representatives of the administration, law enforcement agencies and the media, conducted a raid to identify facts of non-contractual and non-metered power consumption in Korochansky district. The power engineers checked metering devices of consumers - natural and legal persons suspected of violating the mode of electricity consumption.
In the zone of attention of the Korochansky power engineers there are about 2 thousand meters of legal entities and 20 thousand ones of physical persons. Almost all large legal entities are equipped with an automated electricity metering system (AMR), which allows remotely receiving data on electricity consumption. In the private sector and among small owners, it is only 10 percent yet. According to the deputy chief for sale of services of Korochansky Distribution Zone Igor Zadvornov, in the coming years, this area of work will be given maximum attention as part of the program of digital transformation of the regional power grid complex. Smart metering will be installed both at transformer substations of 0.4-10 kV and at consumers. This will make transparent the mode of supply and consumption of electricity and, as a result, significantly reduce losses in the grid. In the meantime, theft is almost massive, especially in the private sector, where violations are found almost every day.
The check involving the media revealed facts of non-contractual consumption in the private sector - in the villages of Ploskoye and Shlyakhovo. In the first one, a non-metered consumption report was immediately drawn up, the amount of stolen electricity was recalculated, based on the cable transmission capacity and the timing of the last check. Electricity here heated the house in violation of fire and electrical safety standards. The connection itself was carried out in an artisanal way that could lead to a fire or endanger the lives of passersby.
In the village of Shlyakhovo, a dwelling house connected to the grid, but not displayed in the database, was found. They could not see the owner, however, in the opinion of the power engineers, disconnecting the facility from the grid will speed up the meeting with the owner.
During the check in Far Igumenka, the raid participants found a meter with broken seals of the state verification and obvious intervention in the counting mechanism by the consumer. The device not suitable for calculations was replaced by a new one and an act of non-metered energy consumption was drawn up. On its basis, the amount of stolen electricity will be recalculated taking into account the standard and multiplying factor.
The illegal consumption of energy is found when conducting inspections of the technical condition of power facilities and means of commercial metering. Such facts are found both in the private sector and at small business facilities, where, wishing to save on electricity bills, the owners often intervene in the metering systems, thereby lowering the meter readings. Thus, in 2018, Belgorodenergo’s employees revealed 694 incidents of interference with the operation of metering devices and unauthorized connection to grids with a total volume of 9.9 million kWh. The damage from illegal consumption of electricity exceeded 27 million rubles. In particular, in Korochansky district 21 facts of non-metered and three facts of non-contractual consumption were recorded with a total volume of 1 million 372 thousand kWh for the amount of about 5 million rubles.
Since last January, for individuals, the rules for calculating the amount of electricity consumed in violation of the current legislation have become much more stringent. Now, if the fact of interference with the metering device has been established, the volume and cost of the stolen electricity is calculated on the basis of a standard approved by regional authorities using a multiplying factor of 10, and the calculation period can reach three months. The amount of payment can be tens or even hundreds of thousands of rubles, and if it has come to court, then, in addition to the cost of electricity, the citizen will have to reimburse court costs. So, it is much cheaper to comply with the law: to install the meter and pay for the consumed electricity according to the law.
