Thais warned: Tampering with the electricity meter can get you a criminal conviction

 

Picture: Sanook

 

Electricity users have been warned - tampering with the meter can mean you wind up in court.

 

But the provincial authority said that the first step is just a fine.

 

Chonburi authorities were inspecting a property in Ban Suan sub-district after they suspected the owner of doing something untoward with the meter.

 

It was proved and he was fined and warned that next time it would be serious.

 

Piyaphat Bunwathee, 45, told Sanook that consumers should stay well away from the meter and not try and lower their bills by illegal means, as happened in this case.

 

Source: Sanook

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-09-07

No ploblem. Don't need to tamper with the meter, just bypass it altogether.

26 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thais warned: Tampering with the electricity meter can get you a criminal conviction

…...or electrocuted...…...but hey, if we can scam a few baht.....!

Thais have to be warned of this?

Surely everyone knows that tampering with a meter (theft of electricity) is a crime.

What next, should Thais be advised to not stop breathing or be  warned that murder is no-no unless you are incredibly wealthy?

One of my neighbours (Moved-out 2 years ago) used to take his meter off the post and leave it hanging by the wires.  I imagine the meter didn't record in that position, or perhaps he used magnets; I don't know.  He'd put it back on the post 2 days before the meter reading man came, and remove it the evening after the meter had been read.  He was so blatant about it, month-in, month-out.  His wife used to run-out to collect the ticket before anybody had a chance to see it, clutching it to her chest in case she dropped it.

 

The other neighbours in the soi knew what he was doing, but just ignored it.  One of the neighbours said it wasn't worth the hassle to report him, and advised me to ignore it also; good advice - don't get involved.

12 minutes ago, Moti24 said:

One of my neighbours (Moved-out 2 years ago) used to take his meter off the post and leave it hanging by the wires.  I imagine the meter didn't record in that position, or perhaps he used magnets; I don't know.  He'd put it back on the post 2 days before the meter reading man came, and remove it the evening after the meter had been read.  He was so blatant about it, month-in, month-out.  His wife used to run-out to collect the ticket before anybody had a chance to see it, clutching it to her chest in case she dropped it.

 

The other neighbours in the soi knew what he was doing, but just ignored it.  One of the neighbours said it wasn't worth the hassle to report him, and advised me to ignore it also; good advice - don't get involved.

A good neighbor would have shared the secret. In Vietnam we used heavy magnets on the meters.There are many ways but here electricity is so cheap why bother ?

You've been warned !

Frying Tonight !!!

" 200 bt and I'll come 'round the house and do the meter for ya' " .. 

2 hours ago, AsiaHand said:

A good neighbor would have shared the secret. In Vietnam we used heavy magnets on the meters.There are many ways but here electricity is so cheap why bother ?

You're obviously no better than the thieving scumbags here, then!

2 hours ago, AsiaHand said:

A good neighbor would have shared the secret. In Vietnam we used heavy magnets on the meters.There are many ways but here electricity is so cheap why bother ?

In the UK it was/is common practice to drill a small hole in the side of the meter and push a matchstick in it to prevent the wheel from turning. When the meter reader was due the matchstick was removed and the hole filled with black plasticine. Other, less legal, black substances were also used.

 

Perfectly safe as it didn't involve going near the electrical parts of the meter.

1 hour ago, Spidey said:

In the UK it was/is common practice to drill a small hole in the side of the meter and push a matchstick in it to prevent the wheel from turning. When the meter reader was due the matchstick was removed and the hole filled with black plasticine. Other, less legal, black substances were also used.

 

Perfectly safe as it didn't involve going near the electrical parts of the meter.

I drilled a hole and used a cocktail stick, then filled in the hole with black boot polish before the meter reader came.

Super strong magnet held in front of the spinning disk stops it spinning but not sure if damaging it that way is possible. Unless of course you've got a digital meter then by pass would be the only way while working with live wire. Be careful. You could die. And then what?

Many years ago a friend in UK used the matchstick method on his meter. He was caught at it because the Electric Company came to check why his bills were suddenly a tenth of his earlier consumption.......Not the sharpest tool in the box....

3 minutes ago, AhFarangJa said:

Many years ago a friend in UK used the matchstick method on his meter. He was caught at it because the Electric Company came to check why his bills were suddenly a tenth of his earlier consumption.......Not the sharpest tool in the box....

Yeah. You can't win. They got you by the cahoonas either way...wait...wait.....wait for it....I have an ideal solution.

Go solar. 

Source some cheap panels. An inverter and recover some used golf cart batteries and your good to go. 6kw. About 3k us should do the trick.

 

One way to go Stud, A late friend here had a solar array fitted in his garden when he built his house. It was amusing to see the meter going backwards !!! But it was not your cheap solution. The panels took up about 2 metres by 8 metres, and If  memory serves me cost around 150 thousand to install.

Many people are scared of the initial cost. Those people going through solar companies probably end up paying double to what the system is actually worth. If you got the nous to do it all yourself then that initial cost is not lost or wasted money. It is retained in added value of house or liquified if sold.

Going over a whole lot of youtube vids and reading a lot a long with good reasoning skills will set your path to free power.

21 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

No ploblem. Don't need to tamper with the meter, just bypass it altogether.

My moobaan employed a (supposedly) qualified electrician to run electricity to a couple of guard boxes on the estate.  Two years down the line an eagle-eyed employee spotted the meter had been by-passed & we were fined and had to pay an estimate of the stolen electricity.  The original electrician was not available for comment.

I used to sell meter test equipment in the US.  At the trade shows, they would have displays and pictures of various bypass and meter cheating schemes.  Really clever people would actually modify the gearing in the old electro-mechanical meters.  Probably watchmakers.  The hard ones to detect were those with a partial bypass originally installed when a facility was built.  A line might be tapped under a concrete slab, hidden from sight.  No prior usage history. Of course, if a meter gets pulled for some reason and there are still some lights and equipment running it's game over.

So that's why so many power cuts everyone's out disconnecting and reconnecting before the meter reader comes? 

Edited September 8, 20187 yr by sammieuk1

15 hours ago, Moti24 said:

You're obviously no better than the thieving scumbags here, then!

Reading these posts it's a round the world occupation.

3 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

One way to go Stud, A late friend here had a solar array fitted in his garden when he built his house. It was amusing to see the meter going backwards !!! But it was not your cheap solution. The panels took up about 2 metres by 8 metres, and If  memory serves me cost around 150 thousand to install.

My solar panels cost me 70.000 Bt about five years ago, it was done by my wifes son, that is his job.

3 hours ago, possum1931 said:

My solar panels cost me 70.000 Bt about five years ago, it was done by my wifes son, that is his job.

Can I ask you, are they paying for themselves over time? ( Serious question ) We have a 40 square metre swimming pool that uses about 55 Baht a day to run the pump.

Edited September 8, 20187 yr by AhFarangJa

20 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

Can I ask you, are they paying for themselves over time? ( Serious question ) We have a 40 square metre swimming pool that uses about 55 Baht a day to run the pump.

Yes as far as I know, I pay my wife half of what I paid her before the solar panels were fitted, and when I asked her a long time ago she said yes.

should read WILL get you a conviction!!

15 hours ago, essox essox said:

should read WILL get you a conviction!!

Quite likely to get you this first.

??

On 9/7/2018 at 11:27 AM, Spidey said:

In the UK it was/is common practice to drill a small hole in the side of the meter and push a matchstick in it to prevent the wheel from turning. When the meter reader was due the matchstick was removed and the hole filled with black plasticine. Other, less legal, black substances were also used.

 

Perfectly safe as it didn't involve going near the electrical parts of the meter.

Does not work on modern meters...

On 9/8/2018 at 1:31 AM, AhFarangJa said:

Many years ago a friend in UK used the matchstick method on his meter. He was caught at it because the Electric Company came to check why his bills were suddenly a tenth of his earlier consumption.......Not the sharpest tool in the box....

Unfortunately most offenders who fiddle their meters or bypass are not prosecuted...

 

Biggest problem if the the man of the house says it was his wife and she says it was him how can you prove  who did it.

 

Another fact is the utility companies are scared to cut people off, even repeat offenders, I have heard it said that those who do pay their bills are paying an extra 25%  to cover for the gas and electricity extracted illegally.

12 minutes ago, Basil B said:

Does not work on modern meters...

No, but there are ways.....?

1 minute ago, Spidey said:

No, but there are ways.....?

Yes, they leave tell tail burn marks...