A man in Umeå has been sentenced to a conditional term and over 300,000 kronor in damages for stealing electricity to his villa for several years. The ruling followed Umeå Energi's discovery of major power losses using new technology.
In January 2024 Umeå Energi detected major electricity losses in an area. Three months of control measurements showed that a villa had consumed over 25,000 kilowatt hours of electricity while the meter registered only a fraction.
A house search revealed that the owner had bypassed the meter. The company suspects the man stole electricity since the early 2000s, but damages cover only the past five years.
The man has denied the crime and claimed he was in prison during the period, but the claim proved false.