Electricity distributor operating in northeastern Bulgaria – ERP Sever, a unit of Czech Energo-Pro, reported theft in the amount of 16.8 GWh, with around 1,900 cases.
In 2020, three electricity distributors operating in Bulgaria managed to bill stolen electricity, which amounted to as much as the entire country consumes in 16 hours.
Namely, total stolen electricity amounted to almost 55 GWh, while average daily consumption in Bulgaria is around 83.6 GWh.
The largest amounts of stolen electricity were reported in western part of the country, operated by CEZ – 26 GWh. 86 % of electricity theft cases are accounted for residential consumers, i.e. 3,805, while the remaining 649 cases are related to commercial consumers.
The distributor noted that that the damage caused by illegal consumption of electricity is not only financial – both for the company itself and for honest customers. Electricity theft reduce the quality of electricity supply and deteriorate the performance of the distribution network. This is a prerequisite for deteriorating security of supply, causing inconvenience to customers.
