just read this and cannot believe what im reading fucking inner tubes to bypass a gas mains :O .......
A television investigation, to be broadcast tonight, shows that energy theft is on the increase. After a terraced house in Sheffield was destroyed in a gas explosion last summer, investigators found that of 20 houses in the same street, five were stealing gas and two were stealing electricity.
Those involved in power supply theft range from single parents on a tight budget to wealthy middle-class households who don't want to pay, landlords, and business owners, with illegal cannabis farmers a particular culprit.
On a smaller level, individual householders are using bicycle inner tubes to divert their supply around the official meter, meaning they pay for just a fraction of what they use.
Dangerous risks: This house in Sheffield was destroyed by a suspected gas explosion last summer
Jesus Agostinho, 36, suffered serious burns after being thrown across the street in the blast last summer
He said: 'One landlord has over 50 properties, all hot-wired, and another company run on stolen meters has around 60-70 properties around London.
'Theft of supply runs into millions.'
One anonymous criminal who pleaded guilty to digging up a London street and connecting electricity to more than 1,500 north London properties told the BBC he dug down, opened the main power cable, and tapped into it.
The man, who was given a suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay £50,000 for criminal damage to power supplies, said he would supply the energy to households and it was then up to them to contact the electricity suppliers to pay for it.
He said: 'If the meter man doesn't come, they could steal [the electricity].
'There's thousands and thousands of properties in London with no supplier, and they get electric for free.'
Those who are caught face backdated bills and possible prosecution.
After the Sheffield blast, seven houses in the street were found to be stealing power supplies
In one instance, British Gas received an anonymous tip-off about a 'suspiciously energy efficient' eight-bedroom mansion in Essex, with cars worth £300,000 parked on the forecourt, where the householders had dug down and diverted both gas and electricity supplies.
British Gas power theft investigator Piers Merritt spent an hour and a half searching the property before finding two meters providing power that wasn't being paid for.
He said: 'The consumption has dropped by 80 per cent - basically all the gas and electric being billed through these meters is not being billed - they're getting it for free'.
Mr Merritt, who cuts off illegal power supplies and once caught a nursing home owner who had siphoned off £25,000-worth of energy, added: 'I always talk about need and greed.
'These people can pay for all their energy and yet they are not. They have done something to get energy for nothing.'
