That Little Power Theft May Cost You A Lot

In January this year, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST) Vigilance Squad accused veteran actor Rati Agnihotri of stealing power worth Rs 47 lakh by tampering the electronic meter in her sea-facing Worli bungalow.

"At first glance, you will find no fault with the meter, but, when we removed it from its spot, we saw a small hole drilled on its rear. It was used to tamper with the meter and slow it down by up to 87 per cent," BEST chief vigilance officer R J Singh had told media at that time. The actor and her businessman husband was not in Mumbai when the case was first reported.

In another case, Bhanwar Singh, a resident of Gokulpur Village in east Delhi, may not have thought his electricity theft was going to cost him so dear. On November 13, a special court imposed a two-year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 21.5 lakh on this businessman in a power theft case. Singh, says power distribution company BSES, stole over 31 KW of power. Of this, 22.6 KW was used for industrial purposes and 8.8 KW for domestic purposes. When the BSES in 2006 detected this theft, a bill of Rs 11.26 lakh was sent to Singh, who refused to pay it. That led to an FIR being filed against him.

In another power theft case, a tenant was sentenced with a one-year imprisonment and a penalty of Rs 1.33 lakh by the Dwarka Special Court judge in the national capital.

Our power needs are continuously rising and along with them are rising the number of cases of electricity theft. Those stealing power do not belong to a specific set of people, the above-mentioned examples show us. They also show us we stand to lose much more than we gain as soon as authorities find out about our little adventures. The best would be to be fair about the entire business. Your house must have an electronic meter that should run without you manoeuvring it in any way.

Now, what if you did indulge in a bit of dishonest behaviour, thinking nobody was going to notice? This seems to be done in case of Singh in the second example. His example shows that pay your outstanding liability as soon as the authority fix it. Any delay in this regard may prove quite harmful.

What if your caretakers did some goof up while you were away? This could be the case in the first example. The Agnihotri example shows one has to keep monitoring the utility bills even if they stay away from their property.

In case your property is given on rent, be careful that your tenant pays the utility bills on time. In case he leaves the premises without doing so, you will be liable to pay his dues. Caution is the key in such cases.