Hotline of power engineering specialists:
This year IDGC of Centre - Tverenergo division was tasked with minimizing losses in power grids, eradicating cases of electricity theft and bringing unscrupulous consumers to liability.
One of the most problematic in terms of energy losses in the Tver region is Maksatihinsky district. In the final period of maximum loads, the power engineers, by clearing routes and eliminating defects, managed to significantly improve the quality and reliability of the power supply. In the municipality, as well as in the whole region, the number of blackouts decreased by 10 times compared with the autumn-winter period of 2017-2018. However, the grid company cannot guarantee the quality of power supply in the presence of facts of theft of electricity, unauthorized connections to the grid, non-contractual and non-metered consumption.
About 750 consumers-legal entities are registered in Maksatikhinsky district, and not all of them are bona fide. Tverenergo has information both about direct thefts of electricity and about facts of non-metered consumption.
“First of all, our bona fide consumers suffer from this,” comments Manvel Mazhonts, Deputy General Director of IDGC of Centre - Tverenergo division director. “This year in Maksatikhinsky district we will carry out large-scale inspections of legal entities, and any facts of unfair consumption will be strictly punished to the fullest extent of the law.” Similar checks will be conducted in all districts of the Upper Volga region.
Tverenergo reminds that if non-metered or non-contractual consumption is detected, violators are obliged not only to pay damages to the power company, but also to pay fines. For legal entities, the amount of the fine may be more than 200 thousand rubles. If the damage caused by the consumer will be recognized as particularly large (over 250 thousand kW/h), then the act can be qualified under a criminal article, which is punishable up to imprisonment.