SHOCK THEFTS
Surge in leccy bandits stealing from grid and it ‘will only get worse’
BRITAIN is being hit by a huge spike in electricity thefts.
Leccy bandits started plundering the grid even before the recent energy price hikes – raising fears the problem is likely to get worse.
There were 3,020 electricity thefts from April 2020 to April 2021 – a 48% increase in just one year.
London, Manchester, Birmingham and South Yorkshire have all been particularly badly affected.
Thieves bypass meters to steal power, which carries a risk of electrocution and is a fire hazard.
Adam Scorer, of fuel poverty charity
National Energy
Action, said: “Since
April’s huge price rises 6.5million households in the
UK are in fuel poverty – that’s one in four.
“Extortionate energy bills are forcing people into impossible choices.
“We hear from people who are selfdisconnecting or choosing between heating and eating.
“These ‘coping strategies,’ along with those who are resorting to theft, show that people aren’t coping.”
And he warned: “Meter tampering is not only illegal, it can cause fires.” The hike in the energy price cap in
April pushed the average direct debit tariff from £1,277 to £1,971, with an even larger increase for those on prepayment meters.
The cap is set to rocket again, to £2,800 in October, and it is feared more people will turn to crime just to keep the lights on.
Official figures show one in every 300 units of electrical power generated is stolen – or around 1,000 gigawatt hours every year. It means thefts of electricity now cost the grid £280m annually. Fewer than one in 10 thefts ends in prosecution, and the crime is often associated with drug gangs powering hydroponic cannabis farms. Last year pub owner David Bearman, 73, was jailed for nine years after he admitted responsibility for the death of a seven-year-old boy who was electrocuted in his beer garden. Harvey Tyrrell touched defective lighting at the King Harold in Romford, east London. Bearman pleaded guilty to manslaughter and stealing electricity.