Power heist - electricity, water thieves get away with millions By Ruth Callaghan POWER thieves steal up to $160 million of electricity in Australia each year and most do not get caught.

Western Power officials say they can only guess at how much electricity is stolen annually in WA. Illegal drug makers and marijuana growers are among the biggest culprits.

A revenue protection unit set up four years ago by Western Power is estimated to have saved taxpayers about $7 million by cracking down on power thieves.

It prosecuted successfully 87 West Australians for stealing electricity.

The theft from public utilities is booming. Water thieves alone siphon $2 million a year in WA.

Western Power spokesman Peter Winner said investigations were turning up one power theft a week, some totalling thousands of dollars. But many more thieves were escaping detection. "We are really just scratching the surface," he said. "There is obviously a great deal of this going on."

The Australasian Utilities Revenue Protection Association, a national body set up to fight gas, water and electricity theft, said illegal drug operations accounted for about 20 per cent of thefts nationally.

Organised marijuana-growing operations, which used power-hungry lamps and sophisticated irrigation systems, topped the list.

It is estimated that it takes $7000 in electricity to produce one indoor marijuana crop. Many hydroponic operations can grow three or four crops a year. "We are really just beginning to notice an increase not only in the size of these set-ups but in the number being detected," association chairman Mal Conway said.

Thousands of ordinary Australians made up the remaining 80 per cent.

"Australia-wide there is no socio-economic group that fits the category of electricity theft," he said.

"It goes from domestic households from all walks of life to businesses where obviously the major gains can be received."

Mr Conway said it was hard to put an exact figure on the amount of electricity stolen nationwide each year but it varied between $75 million and $160 million. The Water Corporation has prosecuted five thieves in six months. In three cases, thieves used standpipes to tap illegally into the water mains.

Forty-seven households have been prosecuted since January for tampering with water restrictors, which are usually placed on residential meters to slow the water flow when bills have not been paid.

Sydney-based Electricity Supply Association of Australia managing director Keith Orchison said power theft hurt honest customers. It also was dangerous.

"It is money that is being stolen from the rest of the customers because the cost is being factored into the price," Mr Orchison said.

"It is extremely dangerous to mess around with electricity supply systems when you don't know what you are doing.

"People are quite literally taking their lives into their own hands."

http://www.thewest.com.au/20010827/news/state/tw-news-state-home-sto21609.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 27, 2001