KESK Multienergetika Ltd. has been suffering continous losses due to regular electricity thefts, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative.

1,038 cases bringing the company the damage of 6,630,816 RUR were registered in the eight months of 2005 alone, and only 1,678,200 RUR ahs so far been paid back after 477 bills of theft had been drawb up. The total electricity loss amounts to 4,176,745 kilowatts per hour, and only 1,218,251 kilowatts per hour have been paid for.

The company is going to track all the incidents of theft due to the introduction of the multilayered prevention system that will ensure quadrupling of the amount of stealing incidents revealed

According to Director of KomEnergo CJSC subsidiary in Kamyshlov Mikhail Pushkarev, thefts are usually on the increase in winter when the owners of private houses need to keep their dwellings warm. The traditional ‘daylight’ raids are not very effective as the thieves link on to the company’s lines late at night and then quickly disconnect in the morning.

109,451 RUR worth of electricity was stolen in Kamyshlov in January 200 alone, and only 13,640 RUR were paid back.