OREANDA-NEWS. The event was attended by heads of the branch "Yarenergo" and representatives of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Yaroslavl region. They talked about measures to counter the illicit consumption of electricity. Unscrupulous consumers often connect themselves to the power grid, interfere with operation of metering devices to distort real consumed kilowatt-hours. It can be both individuals and organizations and enterprises, for example, developers with power supply building sites. Given the capacity of power installations of illegally connected construction facilities (often greater than 100 kW), energy thieves cause significant damage to electric grid companies and conscientious consumers.

The cost of stolen electricity, under the current system of tariff making, is included in the tariff for electric power transmission of the electric grid company in the coming years, which entails a total increase of tariffs. It turns out that eventually the theft is reimbursed by law-abiding citizens.

Apart from the financial aspects, the theft of electricity directly affects the reliability of supply of bona fide consumers. Illegal connections, taps on wires can cause voltage drops and short circuits in the grid. At the same time the implementation of self-connections can cause serious injuries, even fatal cases, to violators themselves.

In order to prevent the development of such situations IDGC of Centre – Yarenergo division conducts systematic work on detection and prevention of non-metered energy consumption facts. One of the most effective tools to counter theft are raids. During them the company’s employees carry out inspections of power grid facilities, including power lines, for illegal connections, check proper operation of metering devices. Locations of raids are determined based on the analysis of the automated control system of power consumption, allowing professionals to remotely identify "sections of losses".

"We analyze the power consumption of all legal entities - construction sites, shops and enterprises. And if we see that the facility is large enough, but consumes 1,000 kWh, it arouses suspicion. We include it in the plan to conduct raids and already in place we find out whether there is illegal electricity consumption," explained the mechanism the chief of the department of electricity metering and optimization of losses of Distribution Zone of category 1 of "Yargorelectroset" of IDGC of Centre – Yarenergo division Artem Vyrenkov.