Utilities say thefts are driving up costs
Obituary
COLUMBUS — Ohio utilities report that the lean economic times have been accompanied by more thefts of electricity, natural gas and water.
Columbus-based American Electric Power has seen about a 30 percent increase during the past year, according to spokeswoman Terri Flora. And she says that covers only the people who stole power and got caught.
AEP investigator Joe Rutherford says tampering with equipment in order to rip off the electric company can be dangerous, even deadly.
Meanwhile, Columbia Gas of Ohio says billing to recover money from gas thieves is up 71 percent this year.
And, the public utilities department in Columbus reports there have been 754 investigations for suspected illegal water use so far in 2008, compared to 760 during all of last year.
| |
|
Filed by Obituary October 10th, 2008 in Local and State. Popularity: 1% |
 Email this story
 Print this story
Read comments and discuss this story
Report an innappropriate comment
|
In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement
and discussion guidelines.
You must be registered and logged in to post a comment. If you aren't already registered, click here. If you are registered, click here to log in.
Comments
Comment from
joesmoe
October 10, 2008, 3:51 am
Wow! Tough times call for tough measures! I remember this from years back! You always get caught, eventually. It’s so sad really. Maybe, if we had just a few of the 700 billion dollars, we’d put it to good use!
Write a Comment