Electricity Theft or Not?

Reminds me of my youth...(allegedly)
As students me and a couple of friends had a flat in a house owned by an Irishman (yes really).
There was a meter for the house and a separate coin meter for each flat (set to an extortionate rate).
Our meter didn't have a cover over the terminals! So I made up a jumper lead to bridge the terminals for occaisional use when we had no money for the meter.
One day the landlord came in and said come and look at this.
Arrrgghh no..had we left the jumper on???
Whew...no we hadn't.
He proceeded to point at the wires and said we'd swapped them around.
I spoke up and said, it wouldn't matter ayway because it is AC .
(I was doing a physics degree at the time).
He paused for a few seconds and said.
"Ah, sure, you don't understand"
It was all I could do to keep a straight face...
A cover was fitted and we never used the jumper again....
(dunno what the moral of the story is)

Oh, and to answer the Q, it's theft...my justification at the time was that the landlord was re-selling us the electricity at a userous rate.

Del (baaaad kitty)

Oh, it's not much of a problem, is it?

The page you reffered has no provision of feedback/ comments.

It haS not admitted that Energy Meters they are using are not caibrated & certified by any International Agency. At least 15% fast meters are reported by the people who has some know-how to check at their own.

And it is the Supply companies who are in theft business. Their staff [at all levels are looting not the companies but public resources as the power sold out by un-metered connections is called "Leakage" & billed to the law abiding public.

I fully condem theft by whoever it is!!!!! Not only Public!

"that Energy Meters they are using are not caibrated [sic] & certified"

you as the consumers have the right to collectively raise this as a complaint to the proper authorities, assuming that you have the proof to this irregularity, I'm sure with your numbers, these supply companies will listen and mend their ways. with legal action, you could even get your money back!

Here ya go, this one has a section for comments:

Electricity Crisis in India: POWER THEFT....A BLOW ON CONSUMER

Sounds like the emergency rooms of the USA. Illegals and others who can't, or won't, pay routinely visit the ER and leave without paying. Those of us who do pay our bills are forced to pay for the deadbeats, too.

Yes you are true!

We all [Public] are just been driven by GIANTS ALL Over the world.

Public is never give the factual reports.

Losses of Electricity in Transmission + Thefts [Unlimited use Companies + Staff] are billed to the Law abiding users.

Buy a used Electric Company truck. There will be seals in the glove compartment. Jumper one side of the input. It's still stealing, but hey, if you're renting, let them find you.

Advocating criminal acts is poor citizenship. Shame on you.

analyze the speed of the rotor and make no changes in the load.

Then take a 20,000 volt 200 uf DC capacitor and run a single turn around the meter, connect it to the single turn through a triggerable spark gap. Charge to 20,000 V Dc, make the spark. Analyze rotor speed with same load. faster or slower in turns per minute. If slower, your meter has now been made to read incorrectly low. If slower, change polarity, repeat.

this shorted single turn makes a very high peak magnetizing force that will reduce/increase the strength of the little motor that runs the meter. decrease is good.

Lightning strikes sometimes do this to meters.

Dear All,

In simple terminalogy , Using electricity with out permission and without paying, and manipilating circuit and manipilating meters, is called electricity theft.

as per as Indian Law, it is punisable and can be jailed.

for safety concern, it is not advaisable. Use effciently and effectively, it will give you much more than stealing.

Bye

Don't forget that yanking the meter and flipping it upside down causes it to run backwards. Also stealing.

So it's the weight of the electrons that causes them to fall out the bottom, and that's why the meter runs backward when it's upside down? I've also wondered why the utility companies put those wires way up high on poles like that, and now I understand. Electricity flows downhill!

Hey, thanks!

Of course it's theft and dangerous as well.

Although, having just returned from rural India I'm sure that wont stop anyone, if they're caught they can just bribe an official and continue on as before.

It does not matter what the "justification" is, Irish landlord or not, a thief is a thief is a thief.
Ah, but to be sure, you don't understand.
Out of interest, I believe the law has been changed so that you are no longe allowed to re-sell electricity at a userous rate, thus by careful manipulation of the KrisDel^TM time machine I can prove that I was in fact merely enforcing the future law, and of course averaged out I still paid more than I should for the electricity.
Del

what mean you by repeat word userous ? No find it.

usurious..here in Canada a landlord cannot install separate meters unless he grants the Electric system the power to bill. Condominiums and apartment houses often do this. Which means the tenant pays retail for his amps. The owner is isolated from rate increases etc.

Large apartment houses with no discrete metering can negotiate substantial discounts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usury

As in usery
Del

Don't you know that before meter connection is not meterred and connected to supply without monitoring is a theft or your Right?

It is theft.

I know that this is not an appropriate response. But

If an inordinate portion of your electric bill is to provide revenue through taxes. To some entity which has no tangible attachment to the generation, management or delivery of that electricity. Would that be theft?

If it's good enough for the government then why not.

Was that Irishman's last name Parker? I might know him and think the event well justified.

__________________________________________________________________

The cost of my labor is directly proportionate to the level of incompetance of who ever screwed up your equipment in the first place.

Dumb looks are still free.

Can't remember his name it was nearly 40 years ago in Kentish town London.
Del

Often times its not the moral or ethical obligations that prevent a person from stealing but rather the annoyance and inconvenience of getting caught that is the true deterrent.

Or else you were never taught the difference between right and wrong!

Too lazy to work for what you want? No worries. Three hots and a cot behind bars is appealing to some people. They're called 'recidivists'. Keeps the rest of us on our toes.

My previous comment (#5) was just to see how many wacky ideas you all could come up with for something obviously wrong.

And that is the Laws to punish the culprit whether in ethical law or civil law to the extent of the crime committed.

Sympathies not with the criminal but with the grieved party.

Have you looked at your bill????? Any way you slice it it's theft.

Yea it is theft to pull power before the meter but what these nuts charge for what we get is atrocious!

Sadly our governments don't regulate the prices to protect us from gouging.It's the same with water and natural gas usage.

The gas company raises their price every time the price per barrel of crude goes up even though one has nothing to do with the other.

Man am I in the wrong business!

In an effort to discourage energy theft, I ask this hypothetical. If I use a gen-set, converted to run on filtered yellow grease (Fry oil) at full capacity for enough time to offset my usual KWH's used each month and then disconnect the unit and go to my neighbors house and do the same thing, is that theft or thrift? If one were to do that, what would be a quick way to jack in to the homes electrical system safely? G

Perfectly legal as long as you make the proper connections and precautions. People are doing that every day with grid-tie Solar systems.

But you will find that even if you get the fry oil for free, the cost of hauling it to your site, storing it safely and maintaining the generator will still end up costing you more per kWh that what your utility charges you.

That was my finding until the $1.00 per gallon federal bio-diesel incentive stopped and a glut of grease has again hit the market. Restaurants may start paying for removal again. Centrifuge and filter of the grease is cheap and the gen set burns the grease without going through the bio-diesel conversion process. I contend, it is profitable and could be become more so in the near future. Wood gasification is making a comeback as well. I don't have the wood, but do have access to the grease. G

Quick way? Get a 2 pole 220vac circuit breaker equal to the rated output of your gen-set. A suitable 3 wire plug that fits the 220 receptacle on the gen-set, and appropriate cable. attach this to the breaker and ground inside the breaker box, after you have turned off the main breaker !! It is strongly suggested that a separate ground be attached from the Gen-set to the breaker box or ground rod.

To test or use: Aux Pwr - Off, Main Pwr - Off. Start Gen-set and connect. You may then turn your Aux Pwr breaker back on.

To return to the Grid: Turn Aux Pwr - Off and disconnect from Genset. You may then turn Main Pwr - On.

Under no circumstance can both breakers be On at the same time !! Not even for an instant. You may blow up your house wiring, your generator, the pole transformer, and totally piss off your Utility.

Make Signs to that effect attached to the Genset, the Breaker Box, and and dedicated flashlight. There are fancier automatic units to achieve this, but you asked for simple.

There is a way to connect that still allows the power company feed to remain live for when you are at your max usage and don't have the power. This will also turn your meter backwards when you have excess. And in my area and many others in the USA, the power company has to pay you for the power you placed on the grid.

A solution is available to prevent this if you use a special design of the service cable. In case interested please connect.

Of course it's theft. Probably 99% of the population steals in one way or another. A lot of it we don't even realize as such. Taking home a box of paper clips from the office is stealing. Accepting more change mistakenly for a store purchase is stealing. Cheating on your income tax is stealing. Keeping the change from a telephone or vending machine that malfunctioned is stealing. Granted these are small things, but never-the-less it is stealing and there is no justification for it. When I went to school(a long time ago), I was told that finding money on the street and keeping it was the same as stealing. I was supposed to make an attempt to find the legal owner and if he couldn't be found, the money was to be turned in at a police station. Of course you would never see the money again. It would usually end up in some cop's pocket, but at least your conscience was clear.

This brings up a question; Is looting as in Chile' stealing? or is it justifiable for survival?

Everybody eyes this world and the social norms differently. Hence the rules become relative. What is right at one place becomes wrong at another and viceversa, depending upon the social norms of that society.

The point is how to uphold the social norms in the society where you live in. All are not alike & therefore deterrants and solutions are necessary.

It needs an innovation to ensure that the whole power supply chain becomes theftproof. Each component needs to be tamperproof and the solution has to be economically viable.