Hotline of power engineering specialists:
For five months of the current year, power engineers of Rosseti Centre Belgorodenergo revealed and stopped in the region 327 facts of unauthorized connection to power grids and unauthorized interference with metering equipment totalling 5.6 million kWh worth over 19.7 million rubles.
Since 9 June 2019, amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation entered into force. Fines for repeated unauthorized connection to electric grids, as well as unauthorized (non-metered) use of electricity have doubled. Now citizens are fined from 15 to 30 thousand rubles. In addition to tightening sanctions for individuals, the changes affected other categories of consumers. For repeated unauthorized connection to power grids, as well as unauthorized (non-metered) use of electricity, officials will pay from 80 to 200 thousand rubles, or will be disqualified for a period from two to three years. Fines for organizations - from 200 to 300 thousand rubles.
65 lawsuits for recovery of the cost of non-metered and non-contractual electricity consumption in the amount of 12.1 million rubles were filed to courts. Under 47 lawsuits in the amount of 4.2 million rubles (taking into account the transition from 2018), positive decisions were received. The power engineers apply to the court if the consumer refuses to voluntarily compensate for the losses incurred by the company.
The most common methods of electricity theft remain interfering with the operation or design of metering devices, external influence on the counting mechanism, concealed electrical wiring, as well as unauthorized connection to grids. They are detected as a result of special checks and raids.
In Stary Oskol, the branch of one of the banks was caught with theft of electricity. During the check, it turned out that the office consumed electricity, bypassing the metering device, having connected to the input cable. Only the electronic information booth installed in the hall was metered. According to the recalculation made on the basis of the allowable long-term current load of the input cable, the violator was charged an amount of more than 120 thousand rubles.
A similar case was recorded in a cafe in Stary Oskol. Checking the metering system, the power engineers discovered cooking equipment connected bypassing the meter. The cost of non-metered electricity consumption exceeded 97 thousand rubles.
Often, violators are caught with attempts to interfere with the metering device in order to distort the actual value of the electricity consumed. Two such incidents occurred in Shebekinsky district, where the owner of a parking lot and an individual entrepreneur tried to deliberately reduce the amount of electricity consumed by installing an extraneous electronic device in the device case. The recalculation in this case was performed on the maximum power of the connected power devices since the last instrumental check. For violators, the amount was quite significant: in one case, dozens, in the other - hundreds of thousands of rubles. On all facts of violations, the applications were handed over to the police.
The power engineers draw the attention of residents of the region to the fact that energy theft is one of the main causes of voltage drops and power outages. You can report facts of possible violations of the law by calling the hotline at 8-800-50-50-115, short number 13-50.
