The Cuban regime has imposed fines of more than seven million pesos for electricity fraud in the residential sector of Ciego de Ávila, the official press reported.
The portal Cubadebate noted that, as part of “a strong response against electricity fraud,” more than 7,508,000 pesos had been collected through the end of November, “as a result of the discovery of 707 frauds in energy consumption, which equates to 1,805, 9 MW /h”.
Authorities expect the figure to increase with December’s accounting, as 73 additional frauds were reported in the first 22 days of this month, the statement said.
Violators were fined 500 pesos and the kilowatts not billed for a year were calculated based on the electrical equipment in the home, explained Luis Alberto Hernández San Blas, commercial director of the province’s electricity company.
The official said the theft of electricity from customers constitutes a violation of the metering system, with the aim of reducing their real consumption, and is punishable by current laws.
Hernández San Blas highlighted that among the increasingly sophisticated methods used is the use of powerful magnets that prevent the measurement of all the energy consumed in the meter, as well as the direct connection of one or more high-consumption appliances to avoid such record.
The commercial director recalled that, in the event of electricity fraud being ascertained, Legislative Decree 260 of 1998 will be applied, which regulates personal contraventions of the regulations electrical service.
In December last year a Cuban had to do it pay more than 146,000 pesos in fines for electricity fraud in the province of Sancti Spíritus, for stealing electricity from the Sancti Spíritus Electric Company (EESS).
Last November, Cuban regime authorities said electricity theft in the country reached 20 gigawatt hours (GWh) in October, a figure that equates to 20,000 megawatt hours (MWh).
“In October, the comparison with fraud and technical losses in the electricity service made it possible to recover approximately 20 gigawatt hours in Cuba. Of this value, 17.32 gigawatt hours correspond to Havana, which is equivalent to more than 3,800 tons of fuel ,” he indicated on his social networks on Wednesday Caribbean Channel.
The Cuban authorities underline that the current decree 260 applies to those who commit illegalities in the electricity service. According to official media, this crime is included in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Cuba and includes fines whose value is less than revision, together with other measures.
The law allows for retroactive sanctions, explained the general director of the Havana Electric Company. “It allows you to retroactively apply to that customer one year back for all the energy that he stops serving, and the amounts here are significant.”
“We have applied retroactive fines, which entail retroactive fines of 50,000, 100,000 pesos, without problems of any kind, and it is a function, obviously, of the physical load that is placed on the customer and in correspondence with the extent of the fraud,” exemplified Castillo Salas .
In addition to fines, authorities can leave first-time violators without electricity service for 72 hours. Repeat offenders may be suspended from service for a maximum of 15 days.
Cubans criticize this fact pay high commissions and also deal with endless blackouts.
2023-12-29 20:42:33
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