How to Know When Someone is Stealing Your Electricity

Have you ever had your electricity units run out so fast that you were sure someone else was using them with you?

Your hunch might just be right. About 40% of generated electricity in Nigeria is lost to electricity theft. So even if you may not be stealing electricity, someone else might be “tapping” from you.

In this post, I’ll be sharing a few pointers to help you identify when someone is stealing your electricity and what to do when such situations arise.

1. There’s a Mysterious Wire

While tampering with electricity connections might be done in a very discreet way, the most obvious method is by connecting a wire illegally. Usually, a neighbor might plug in their wires to one of your power outlets. From there, they use the electricity connected to your house.

So check for wires that aren’t yours. Follow these wires to their origin and you’ll be able to detect who is stealing your electricity.

2. Your Bill Becomes Unexplainable

When there’s a change in weather or appliances, there’s a tendency for your electricity bill to increase. However, this type of hike is explainable because there’s an obvious reason and your meter readings will fall within the same consumption rate.

However, if your electricity units starts to reduce at a surprising level and you cannot trace it to any significant change, someone is probably tampering with your electricity.

3. The Meter and Electricity Pole Looks Tampered

For tampered meters, you want to look around for cuts or lid covers that don’t close. When an installed meter starts to have these issues, it can be a red flag.

Electricity poles are also a great place to look. This is because intruders usually tend to cut and rejoin illegal wires across electricity poles. So if your wires look scattered and unlike the neighboring electrical poles, there’s a chance someone else is connected to your house.

What Should I Do When I Find Someone Stealing My Electricity?

Yelling at the discovered “tappers” can only do so much.

Once you notice that your electricity has been tampered with, kindly report to the nearest electricity distribution office. Discos have been trained to deal with these types of electrical theft.

It also helps keep your records clean so that when it's discovered, you don’t have to worry about having a debt migrated on your meter.

And that’s it for today. I hope this post has been helpful. Do share this post with your friends and family members who might need this.

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