Electricity theft is a major problem around the world, resulting in significant lost revenues for utilities. In India, around 27% of electricity is lost to theft, costing $16 billion per year. Brazil loses around 15% of its annual energy production to theft, amounting to over $8 billion in losses annually. In the United States, power theft costs an estimated $6 billion per year, with some individual utilities like Tampa Electric losing millions each year investigating cases of theft.

1. ELECTRICITY LOSS AROUND THE GLOBE
Overview
 Electricity theft-revenues lost from illegal connections, unbilled consumption, and non-payment-is difficult to quantify. But
in some pockets of South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the former Soviet Union, losses reach 50 percent. In other words,
the utility is collecting half the revenue it should from the power it supplies.
India
 According to the UNDP, 400 million people in India are without electricity, the demand for power is set to double by 2020,
and there is already a power deficit.
 The network in Asia’s third-largest economy loses 27 percent of the power it carries through dissipation from theft, with 15
to 30 percent of power lost to illegal hookups, bill fraud, or nonpayment, costing the nation’s distribution companies an
estimated US$16 billion per year, while peak supply falls short of demand by an average of 9 percent, according to
India’s Central Electricity Authority.
 The World Bank estimates that stealing from the grid reduces India’s gross domestic product by 1.5 percent
 Some 300 million people, or one in every four, remain without links to the grid and the number will still be about 150
million by 2030, according to the Paris based International Energy Agency.
Brazil
 Brazil loses approximately 15 percent of its annual energy production to theft according to its National Electrical Energy
Agency (ANEEL); amounting to annual losses in excess of 8.1 billion BRL
 20 percent of the country’s electricity is stolen, so prevalent that the government has mandated the use of 60 million
‘smart meters’ by 2020
 The total energy lost in the state of Rio de Janeiro in one year alone would be enough to supply the 6.2 million people
who live in Santa Catarina for 12 months. This energy, more than 7.8 thousand gigawatts, is equivalent to one and a half
year's output from the Angra 1 nuclear power station
 In Pará, where 10,000 new unauthorized connections appear every month, the local distributor is one of the most affected
in the country. Between 2007 and 2010, 24 percent of the energy it produced was lost.
 In 2009, criminals with password access to doctored meters lowered recorded power consumption, costing the unnamed
utility as much as $400 million annually, according to an FBI cyber-intelligence bulletin obtained by the blog Krebs On
Security.
United States
 According to a report by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Energy diversion costs ratepayers in
the United States an estimated $6 billion annually, and it is leading utilities to try new programs and/or consider some of
the solutions that target theft, an estimated yearly loss of 1 to 3 percent.
 Nontechnical revenue losses are estimated to account for 2 to 4 percent of revenues in the utility meter-to-cash cycle, and
an estimated 80 percent of those losses stem from theft or metering defects.
 According to a 2011 study of indoor pot-growing operations, growers in the United States use about $5 billion worth of
electricity to power lightbulbs, ventilation fans, dehumidifiers, and other appliances to mimic outdoor growing conditions.
 The Arizona Public Service Company did a study in 2000 and found about 15,000 electric meters had been tampered with,
costing nearly $5 million a year.
 Florida utilities lose millions each year. Tampa Electric Company and what is now Duke Energy say that they have
investigated thousands of cases of theft and have recovered millions in the process.
 Example of power theft cases in the US from Detroit, Pennsylvania, Connecticut
China
 China has identified thousands of alleged criminals that include service industries that have connected directly to
distribution lines. It’s estimated that between 3 to 8 percent of that country does not pay for its electricity.
 In Hong Kong, police rounded up more than 90 people suspected in a meter-tampering scheme to help restaurants lower
their utility bills; the cost to power and gas utilities was estimated at HK$30 million
Canada
 In Calgary, utility officials estimate that up to 60 percent of power outages are attributed to some form of tampering with
electrical equipment.
Australia
 Electricity theft costs $15 million a year.
United Kingdom
 Cannabis farms are stealing £200m a year worth of energy for high powered heat lamps.