Hotline of power engineering specialists:
The branch “Rosseti Centre Smolenskenergo” actively fights theft at power facilities. In the first half of 2019, 16 facts of theft of electric grid equipment were committed at the branch’s facilities. The applicant materials on these facts were sent to the police. Total material damage amounted to 890.2 thousand rubles. According to the results of the verification of these materials, police units have currently opened 8 criminal cases, an investigation is underway.
Theft of wires and power equipment continues to be an urgent problem for the power engineers. The branch’s specialists, together with law enforcement officers, carry out systematic work aimed at solving crimes and exposing perpetrators. So, in January 2019, the Gagarinsky police department in Sychevsky district of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia criminalized two local residents who, in 2018, stole aluminum wire on an overhead line. In May 2019, the Sychevsky District Court convicted these persons. One of them was sentenced to 3 years 6 months of imprisonment (conditionally) with a trial period of 2 years, the second - to 150 hours of compulsory labour. In court, the material damage caused by the crime was compensated in favour of the branch “Rosseti Centre Smolenskenergo”.
Representatives of the company and the police conduct joint raids on points of reception of non-ferrous metals in order to identify facts of illegal delivery of wires and other parts made of non-ferrous metals. Explanatory work is carried out with the population about the criminal liability for the theft of power equipment and about the danger to which criminals expose themselves and others.
In addition, technical measures are used to prevent theft. For example, the branch’s specialists replace wires with self-supporting insulated wire (SIW), from which it is impossible to isolate non-ferrous metal by a simple method of firing, as criminals often do - the melting point of special plastic insulation is similar to the melting point of the aluminum alloy from which the wires are made. This feature makes it impossible for attackers to process the wire for delivery to collection points. Work on installation of burglar alarm systems at electric grid facilities also continues.
The power engineers warn: unauthorized interference in the operation of power equipment entails criminal penalties. Dismantling of equipment at substations often leads to emergencies, equipment failure, and disconnection of entire settlements from electricity.
If you have become an eyewitness of suspicious actions near power lines, substations, transformers or noticed that people are not in uniform clothing at power facilities, report this to the direct line of power engineers at 8-800-50-50-115 or to the short number from a landline phone at 13-50.
