Officers of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force are warning residents of the penalties and dangers of illegally abstracting electricity and tampering of electricity meters.
On Thursday 3rd March 2016 Police Officers were called to a home in Five Cays Providenciales by Fortistci Revenue Protection and Energy Agents where they found tampered meter boxes and black jumper cables being used to bypass and abstract the electricity into different units.
The Agents pointed out to officers the damages to the meter boxes and the dangerous conditions they were found. They also disconnected the power from the building and deemed it unsafe and very dangerous.
Over the pass, the Police has been called to numerous reports of this nature and have also arrested and charged a few persons. Electricity theft is a crime that is extremely dangerous and often in cases of abstraction the meter is bypassed very crudely. There’s obviously the risk of causing a fire or children touching exposed terminals.
Under the Theft Ordinance, a person can be fined up to $5,000 or sentenced for 5 years imprisonment for abstracting electricity and under section 26 of the Electricity Ordinance a fine of $100 for tampering with meter box.
Investigations find that meters and cables damaged by tampering have an increased likelihood of having exposed live copper, providing a significantly increased risk of injury or death by electrocution or fire.
Residents are warned to desist from putting themselves in such danger by committing this offence.
Police are urging anyone with information about anyone abstracting electricity to call Crime Stoppers on 1-800-8477 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: www.crimestoppers.tc, Chalk Sound Police Station 3385901. Information you provide will be treated in the strictest of confidence. We remind people they should not report crime information via our Facebook and Twitter page.