site.btaEnergy Minister: Government Ready to Deal with Illegal Abstraction of Electricity

Energy Minister: Government Ready to Deal with Illegal Abstraction of  Electricity

Sofia, September 27 (BTA) - Energy Minister Temenouzhka Petkova said theft of electricity and energy equipment caused millions of leva in damage every year and everybody paid for it.

The government is ready to address these problems either with legislation or with other measures, said Petkova. "Abstracting electricity is an offence under the Penal Code and carries imprisonment, although I do not know how many people have been punished," she said, opening a discussion on prevention organized by the "24 Chassa" daily.

The fine for abstraction of electricity will probably treble from 0.06 leva/kWh to 0.20 leva/kWh, according to Petkova. Any offence against an energy supply network - for electricity, natural gas or heat - is punishable under the Penal Code. However, many sentences have not been enforced.

Oddly, the fine for abstraction of electricity is based on the distribution companies' technological losses. This problem dates from 2014 when the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission obligated distribution companies to charge fraudsters the price of the cheapest electricity generated by the Kozloduy nuclear power plant instead of the price they pay to the National Electric Company (NEK).

Petkova suggested that a working group with the Energy Ministry comprised of all stakeholders prepare legislative changes to stop electricity theft. Her Ministry has proposed that the fine must be 0.20 leva/kWh, the price paid to NEK when there is a shortage on the balancing market. In addition, the fine should be backdated six months instead of three months as now.

Venelina Gocheva, Editor-in-Chief of "24 Chassa", said the three electricity distribution companies sustained 6.5 million leva in direct losses from electricity thefts in 2015. So far this year, a daily average of 1,150 households have suffered power outages and disruptions as a result of thefts from the electricity distribution network of CEZ (which covers Western Bulgaria, including the capital Sofia), Gocheva said, quoting company data. She added that thieves pay 0.07 leva/kWh less than other consumers.

The clearance rate for cable theft, illegal abstraction of electricity and tampering with electric meters is 58 per cent, Ilko Iliev, head of the Criminal Police Department, said at the discussion. Cable thefts in the first eight months of the year numbered 749, 49 per cent less than a year earlier. He also said that electricity thefts through tampering with meters had dropped to 727 in January-August 2016 from 797 a year earlier. He added that 80 per cent of hacking of electric meters was done by former or present employees of the electricity distribution companies.

Energo-Pro Executive Director Stefan Abadjiev blamed power theft using software on what he said were organized crime groups of engineers.
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CEZ suggests that increased sanctions for power theft could fund investments and support of vulnerable consumers. The company wants to protect consumers, the State and investors through the strictest possible sanctions, including fines, for theft of electricity and parts of the related infrastructure. The revenue should go to a fund for target investments in the sector, support for vulnerable consumers or another cause defined by the government.