‘Electricity theft’ & ‘criminal damage’ at Prestatyn property
The Journal understands that the electricity supply to the property, on Victoria Road, was terminated on February 6 by BES Utilities due to a “rogue meter”.
It is understood the street had been dug up to install this “rogue meter”, meaning that energy was taken directly from ScottishPower, the distribution network operator for this site.
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Extracts from an email from BES, shown to the Journal, read: “It was later found that there was an additional cutout that had been hidden behind a panel in the toilet of the salon which was supplying an unregistered three-phrase meter.
“The street had been dug up outside and an illegal joint had been used to connect the rogue three-phase cutout to the mains power directly from the street.
“The usage was not metered and was direct interreference with local distribution equipment. The illegal joint was removed by local distributor and the supply was terminated.
“The meter point administration number is still live and we are still the supplier.”
North Wales Police confirmed it had received a report of electricity theft and criminal damage which is being investigated.
ScottishPower said it could not comment on ongoing cases.
In a further statement, BES Utilities added: “BES is committed to detecting and preventing energy theft.
“We worked closely with a number of industry stakeholders to tackle this largescale and sophisticated case of energy theft.
“The risks of energy theft/tampering are too high to ignore. Stay energy safe and report suspicions of energy theft anonymously to CrimeStoppers”.
