Suppliers must set up central service to stop electricity theft
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New rules kick in from the summer to force energy suppliers to clamp down on electricity theft.
Ofgem said electricity theft is unsafe, leads to higher prices for customers and has links to organised crime such as cannabis growing.
But the regulator believes existing rules are “insufficient” to tackle the problem.
In a letter to all firms with a licence to supply electricity yesterday, Ofgem laid out changes to “strengthen the obligations on suppliers to investigate, detect and prevent electricity theft”.
This change to electricity supply licences will kick in from 3 July 2014.
To back this up, by 29 February 2016 suppliers will also have to set up a central service to assess the risk of energy theft at consumer premises.
Ofgem said this would help target theft investigations.
ELN has contacted the regulator for more details of how the central service is expected to operate.
