"Cannabis grow houses were illegally hooked up to electricity supplies 24 times over the past two years as their operators sought to avoid paying an electricity bill of over €500,000."
"Criminals tapped into ESB Networks to cultivate drugs 18 times in 2024, burning through an estimated 1.8 million kilowatt hours of energy. Based on typical electricity prices of around 30c per unit, that level of consumption would have cost a home owner in the region of €540,000."
Criminal cannabis cultivation operations have been illegally connecting to ESB Networks electricity supplies to avoid paying for the substantial power consumption required for growing drugs. Over a two-year period, 24 illegal connections were discovered, with 18 occurring in 2024 alone. These operations consumed an estimated 1.8 million kilowatt hours of electricity in 2024, representing a financial loss of approximately €540,000 based on typical electricity rates of 30 cents per unit. This widespread electricity theft represents a significant criminal enterprise targeting utility infrastructure.
#electricity-theft #cannabis-cultivation #illegal-connections #utility-fraud #criminal-infrastructure
Read at Independent
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]