Illegal meter-tampering is putting people’s lives at risk as they resort to increasingly desperate measures to reduce spiralling energy bills, two trade bodies have warned.
Electrical association Select and the Plumbing Employers Federation say the cost of living crisis is driving a worrying rise in meter-tampering, with potentially deadly results.
The bodies say interfering with electricity and gas meters can have a “disastrous effect” on perpetrators and innocent people nearby – and have urged anyone coming across tampering to report it and avert disaster.
In a joint statement, spokespersons for the bodies say: “It is a distressing sign of the times that an increasing number of consumers are resorting to tampering with their electrical and gas meters in an effort to reduce their energy bills.
“Stealing energy in this way is a worrying and illegal practice, often encouraged by widely shared footage on social media. But it risks lives and can have fatal consequences for innocent people close by.
“Such services are often offered by unscrupulous individuals who will bypass services or devices for a fee. But often the methods they use are often extremely dangerous and they can have no, or very limited, knowledge of what they’re doing.
“Like all gas and electrical work, interrupting the supply is something that should only ever be dealt with by fully-trained and qualified professionals.
“We are urging all householders and tradespeople to immediately contact the relevant energy company if they suspect meter tampering has occurred.”
A similar warning has recently been made by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, which says: “SFRS is now seeing meter tampering and removal services with increasing frequency and, sadly, we have first-hand experience of the tragic circumstances that they can cause.
“We are now engaging with communities to discourage this dangerous act and make people aware of the significant risks from energy theft and meter tampering.”
Ofcom, the regulator, last year warning against following the advice of some social media posts which claimed gas and electricity meters could be removed as an “energy-saving hack”.
Want to comment on this story? Our focus is on providing a platform for you to share your insights and views and we welcome contributions.
If any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.
Please help us by reporting comments you consider to be unduly offensive so we can review and take action if necessary. Thank you.
.jpg)
.png)
Join the conversation
Jump to latest comment and add your reply
I've had one house where the new smart gas meter stopped working and it took almost a year for them to bother swapping it out for a new one.
I've got another with the same issue now. Reported it 4 months ago and they've done nothing about it. No communication at all.
They just aren't interested. Weird.
The people on social media who offer advice are no doubt current cannabis farmers 😂 they are experts at it. If it goes wrong, there would be a man slaughter charge waiting for them.
A friend moved into a house on E7 (GCH so shouldn't be) to discover the day rate meter didn't work so all the power was being charged at night rate. The energy company did change it quite quickly, but surely they should've been able to see there was a problem when absolutely no electricity was being used in the day by the previous occupant? The energy companies are shockingly bad at running their businesses.
I thought that a neighbours house was bring disconnected as the contractors Accesed the supply in the street. A few months later l reported the void property to the police because the from door was unlocked and slightly ajar. It was a cannabis farm and Wales and west had to come and disconnect the illegal connection and reconnect the connection legally. This road is in a town centre close to a police station and regularily patrolled by them !
Plod aren't interested, had a small cannabis farm in a shop, reported to police, they parked a police van out front and took the plants away, not interested in catching anyone
I was watching steptoe the other night , the stuff they used to put in those old meters LOL
No Surprise at all and what ever tampering they do won’t be a fraction of the theft of the big suppliers raking in Billions.
I was paying on my house £2’200. pa. Then they increased monthly direct debit to
£315 pm, now I advised they are increasing my direct debit to £674.00 pm. as from 1st February 2023, I have insulation and cavity wall insulation plus some of my rads are turned off.
Its only a crime if it affects a big Company or the Council.
Micheal
Most of the energy companies are foreign and often state owned, EDF for instance.Due to their, French,reactors rotting they will have enormous debts and bills. How much Britain will contribute ? Due to privatisation when the energy Industry was given to the city for a tiny fraction of its value, and then asset stripping and loading up with debt, we are faced with extorbitant bills. Good for greenies because it will bring on net zero, more quickly. Peasantry beckons !
Any advance on this £8’000’00 per annam energy Bill. They are taking advantage of people like me who are not much good at this Computer crap.
People telling us to go on-line switch here at there it’s not possible for me and millions of others, but were able to do everything for 50 years before in the real world before they took everything we done and put it into their own format.
Micheal
It's very good for landowners who have few hills which are poor agriculturally. Think the, ahem, philanthrophists at Buck House ? And of course Cameron's uncle Lord Sheffield etc.
Please login to comment