Criminal analysis of electricity theft and its social consequences

Abstract

Electricity theft by individuals and legal entities (corporations) is becoming more frequent phenomenon, because of inefficient public system and unclearly defined legal system, in which electricity is protected object. Electricity in our country is produced and transmitted to the end users by public stateowned corporations. The system for controlling electricity sale and delivery is extremely inefficient. Laws

and bylaws which regulate this area are outdated and, as such, give plenty of opportunity to the end users

and to employees in the public corporations, involved in this process, to make different kinds of abuse and

criminal acts. These criminal activities are difficult to prove in court proceedings, and the financial damage

for the state is substantial. In the last few years, Electricity Distribution Company of Serbia has started installing, the so-called, ‘smart’ electricity meter, and particularly on large, typically commercial, consumers.

The meters are protected with verification mark, performed by authorized control bodies, and the electricity distribution company mark. Consumption of electricity and registered events, such as opening the cover

of the meter which is sealed with an appropriate mark, are read by computers. Although electricity theft is

estimated in millions of RSD each year, for every commercial user in particular, proving this criminal act,

in a legal court process, is very difficult, practically impossible. The paper presents the ways this criminal act of electricity theft is performed, by the commercial users - large consumers, on the territory of the police department of Valjevo. Additionally, the paper also deals with the treatment of public prosecutors and police during the clarification of criminal acts and success in proving them in the juridical processes. The author especially puts en emphasis on a legal and sublegal act, which regulate this area in the criminal justice matter.