Stiff punishment for electricity theft
( 2003-08-28 14:53) (China Daily)
A municipal regulation aimed
at curbing rampant electricity theft among citizens will go into effect next
month, reports Beijing Daily.
The Regulation on Electricity Theft Prevention and Punishment, passed at the
municipal people's congress on July 18, stipulates that anyone found to have
stolen electric power via the city's power lines must pay a fine five times the
due charges for the stolen amount.
The power supply authority has specially established a 200-person team to
inspect electricity usage in the capital.
A loss of 136 million kilowatt-hours of electricity was recorded in 1996, at
a cost of 40 million yuan (US$4.8 million). Last year the amount of stolen power
was nearly double that figure.
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