New law to combat electricity theft in Oklahoma City

[Plutonic Panda]

I hope this cuts down on the copper theft that is supposedly causing the street lights to go out. I wish they could do something about that.

New law to combat electricity theft in Oklahoma City | Oklahoma City - OKC - KOCO.com

[tfvc.org]

Reminded me of this I saw the other week on PBS:
Powerless | Electricity Wars in India | Independent Lens | PBS

A cat-and-mouse game of electricity theft unfolds in Kanpur, India, a city that once prided itself as “the Manchester of the East” for its many factories, but now many of its three million people cannot afford their power bills. Desperate times call for desperate measures and that means outlaw electricians like Loha Singh risk life and limb to connect the disconnected.

Loha seems to have the magic talent to decipher and handle the tangled sea of live wires but this is dangerous business involving potentially explosive transformers.

He has to literally hold his breath at times to protect himself from electrocution. A hero to many locals but a scourge to the power company, is Loha a modern day Robin Hood, or is he making matters worse by taking the law — and power — into his own hands?

To Loha and many other frustrated locals, the real enemy is Ritu Maheshwari, the first female chief of the Kanpur Electricity Supply Company (KESCO). But she sees herself as on a mission to eliminate powerlessness. Electricity theft accounts for nearly 30 percent of all losses to KESCO, aggravating the crisis, and she has constituted a new task force to tackle the problem.

In Powerless, we see the power company’s attempts to disconnect the countless illegal connections that Loha and others like him have installed. And in truth, they agree on at least one thing: both point out that it isn’t just the poor, but also the rich who steal electricity. “How much can the government subsidize?" she asks.

With the hot Indian summer settling in and temperatures reaching 113 degrees, the electricity problem takes on crisis proportions, with dire implications on the citizen’s lives and livelihoods. Tensions mount as more and more of the city suffers through prolonged outages, as more people and businesses sit in darkness, while KESCO line workers fear for their physical safety due to the angry mobs surrounding them.

One business owner says just having 24 straight hours of electricity, something we take for granted in the USA, would make his business flourish. Powerless provides no easy answers, but is a tense portrayal of a once-thriving city on the brink of chaos.

[rezman]

This reminds me of a neighbor I once had, who lived in a small duplex apartment next door. He couldn't (or wouldn't) legally get his electricity turned on, so he took an extension cord with two male ends on it and ran one end through a wall and plugged it into a small laundry room provided for the duplex unit, and plugged the other end into the nearest outlet on his side of the wall, and powered his whole apartment that way. Granted it was an old, small apartment that probably only had about 6 outlets total, but he ran the lights, TV and refrigerator off of that one cord.

[FighttheGoodFight]

This reminds me of a neighbor I once had, who lived in a small duplex apartment next door. He couldn't (or wouldn't) legally get his electricity turned on, so he took an extension cord with two male ends on it and ran one end through a wall and plugged it into a small laundry room provided for the duplex unit, and plugged the other end into the nearest outlet on his side of the wall, and powered his whole apartment that way. Granted it was an old, small apartment that probably only had about 6 outlets total, but he ran the lights, TV and refrigerator off of that one cord.

This seems...dangerous

[rezman]

This seems...dangerous

Outside of maybe burning the place down, probably not as dangerous as it was for these two copper thieves.



Warning! Graphic!

[Mel]

Instant Karma. That is a funny pic.

[Plutonic Panda]

Outside of maybe burning the place down, probably not as dangerous as it was for these two copper thieves.



Warning! Graphic!

I'm guessing they died?

[Mel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuN6gs0AJls

[Plutonic Panda]

My question now is, how long before the state passes a law banning cities from imposes fines one people who steal copper?

[oklip955]

Speaking of copper thief. I replaced some copper plumbing a little over a year ago. I did not want to mess with taking it to a scrap yard. I placed it out next to my drive in clear sight. ( I live way off the road east side of I-35) I still have not had anyone take it. I finally put it in a box in the back of my pickup and no one has taken it out of the back of my pick while out shopping. I'll next wrap the box with Christmas paper and leave it in the back of my truck and see if anyone will take it.