How do you know if someone is stealing your electricity?

  • Dec 14, 2020
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In domestic practice, no one is surprised by the theft of electricity, even in Soviet times, when the tariff amounted to mere pennies, people still tried not to pay what the simple induction counters. With the advent of capitalism, electricity providers began counting every kilowatt and made incredible efforts to prevent electricity theft.

Due to the harsh measures, unscrupulous consumers lost the ability to directly bypass the security system, so they found a loophole by connecting to their neighbors' networks. If you have any doubts about the fact that neighbors are stealing electricity, you should immediately check this fact for both your financial and electrical safety.

Electricity theft detection methods

Of course, as soon as it seems to you that the electricity bill is already very high, you should not immediately accuse neighbors of stealing, as the reason for the incredibly high costs may not be theft at all electricity. Therefore, in order not to quarrel with the tenants of your entrance, you should first understand the situation in detail.

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The most obvious manifestations of the fact that electricity is stolen from you are:

  • The presence of third-party wires for your meter - the connection of the electric meter has an established circuit, and the number of wires supplied to it is determined by the specified circuit of the manufacturer. An example of such a connection is shown in the figure below:
Electric meter connection diagram

If, when inspecting your meter, you identify any third-party wires that are suitable in addition to the normal circuit, then this indicates that the neighbors are stealing electricity, taking it from your meter. Then you should find the direction of these additional conductors.

  • The presence of a load in the electrical network with disconnected electrical appliances. The problem of many houses with old wiring, in the presence of adjacent outlets, when neighbors can easily connect to the outlets of someone else's outlet. If you disconnect the load from the sockets located on such adjacent walls and check the load in line approaching it, then the presence of an electric current will indicate that the neighbors are stealing electricity.
Checking the current load

This method of theft is quite difficult to track down, unless you set such a goal on purpose, it can also be implemented from junction boxes, but this happens much less often.

  • Availability of potential on radiators, taps or other structures that have a common ground. This problem doesn't really affect your meter in any way, thieves electricity simply bypass their own electricity metering and you will lose electricity in no way does not threaten. But for you there is a threat of electric shock from touching batteries or taps, therefore, it is also worth fighting with such manifestations.
  • Wire sling - popular in the private sector, but you will be able to clearly see if someone illegally connected to your line. Therefore, for those living in the private sector, it is important to be especially vigilant in order to protect themselves from cunning neighbors.
"Sketch" on overhead lines
  • Cheat meter readings when all devices and loads in the network are disconnected. If you turned off everything that consumed electrical energy, and your meter continues to show electricity consumption, the theft is obvious. This method of theft can be implemented by especially experienced attackers who are good at hiding the connection points, so you need to turn to highly qualified specialists for help.

To combat the above methods, no measures in the form of automatic accounting systems will help electricity or meters with magnetic seals, since power take-off will be performed directly from your line.

Note, even if you cleaned out the neighbors who are reeling off electricity from you or from common household meters, you should not take any radical measures on your own. To deal with persons who steal electricity, you need to contact the appropriate authorities.