Pubdate: Tue, 23 May 2000
Source: Australian, The (Australia)
Copyright: News Limited 2000
Contact:  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
Author: Amanda Hodge

HYDRO HIGH SAPS THE POWER

AUSTRALIAN power companies say they are losing $120 million a year through 
electricity theft and blame the rise on the growing popularity of 
hydroponic marijuana cultivation.

Backed by police reports and its own data, the industry's watchdog says 
hydroponic marijuana crops, propagated indoors through a system of lights 
and heat, were now the fastest-growing area of power-pinching in the 
country. Australasian Utilities Revenue Protection Association chairman 
David Weston said some companies were now attributing more than 20 per cent 
of all electricity thefts to hydroponics.

"The theft of energy is nothing new but the fact that it now accounts for 
as much as $120 million in annual losses should count for something," Mr 
Weston said.

"The problem varies from state to state and season to season but we are 
finding we're being called out to an increasing number of police jobs which 
involve hydroponics.

"The problem is it's the honest, paying consumers that have to foot the bill."

EnergyAustralia, the NSW Government-owned power distributor, says the 
proportion of theft cases involving marijuana has increased from "virtually 
zero four years ago to about 30 per cent of all cases investigated".

At a power industry conference last week, police warned that the problem 
was only likely to multiply given the ease with which potential thieves 
could slow electricity meters or bypass them altogether.

Detecting the culprits was even more difficult, with most discovered 
through ad hoc checks on consumption records or house fires caused by 
faulty wiring.

Compounding that problem was the fact that NSW and Victorian domestic 
consumers were due to join the new competitive market in December.

Privacy rules governing the national grid, which prevented companies from 
accessing the consumption records of new consumers, would make it even 
easier for electricity thieves to avoid detection, Eastern Energy spokesman 
Ray Mullins said.

"The bottom line is (that) contestability leaves us even more vulnerable to 
this area," he said. 
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