In January 2024, Umeå Energi discovered large electricity losses in an area. Three months of control measurements revealed that a villa had consumed just over 25,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, but that the electricity meter only registered a fraction of that.
After a search of the house, it turned out that the homeowner had bypassed the meter.
The electricity company - which used new technology to analyze the meter data - suspects that the man has been stealing electricity since the early 2000s, but damages only cover the last five years.
The man has denied the crime and, among other things, claimed that he had been in prison during the relevant time, but this turned out not to be true.
